Dropping In
by Galdr
Summary: [Time-Travel Fic] Isaac and Garet, after being forced into the journey to save the world from Alchemy's release, stumble upon an unexpected guest after leaving Vale…wait, is that Isaac? Post-GSDDxGS (Cover Image Credited to original artist)
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Isaac and Garet, after being forced into the journey to save the world from Alchemy's release, stumble upon an unexpected guest after leaving Vale…wait, is that Isaac? [Rated T for language and violence] GSDDxGSxGSTLA

This story…I actually made it up last year but it never formed into a fanfiction off my paper. Yeah I know I'm piling more stuff on my plate like Yuan, but at least it's giving me something to do while I plot for the other stories. I promise I won't pull anymore out of my imagination again. *says that now and pulls out another story in the next few weeks…*

Let's see how this randomness will go. :D Disclaiming: I don't own Golden Sun. If I did, I'd have GS1 and TLA remade for 3DS with remade graphics, remade songs from its GBA soundfonts, and extras. They'd sell as a bundle and you can transfer your completed GSDD file over to unlock secrets, such as *insert spoiler here*. But, the world doesn't work that way…

Enjoy this.

-x-x-x-

**Dropping In**

Chapter 1

-x-x-x-

It was a brilliant day as every other day in Weyard. The sun brought many good cheer, but this particular day, two teenagers had been walking along the road, having headed outside a nearby village that was perched upon a hillside several days ago. They had been stopped by a strange brown creature that forced itself into its company not long ago, and they were off again, with one of them holding a parchment—which was revealed to be a map of the land. The brown creature would sometimes sit upon one of the teenager's heads like some parrot or a pet, whichever came first.

"So, we should make a stop in Vault and restock any items we need." The teen with the map said. He was around five foot six, having untamed blond locks of hair sitting on his head. Many spikes stayed in place unnaturally. He had fair complexion of skin and pale-blue eyes. His attire consisted of a blue tunic, a tone darker of aforesaid color that was his pants, a red breastplate that was decorated with gold assortments upon it. It laced around his backside comfortably, and a scabbard was fastened across his back with a sword in it. He wore full brown leather gloves, brown boots to match and a long, slender orange-yellow scarf around his neck for comfort. "It'll take us at least three hours of walking to make it to Vault, after all, if we start now." His bluish eyes set themselves upon his taller companion, who groaned.

"I guess…" he said, pouting. "I'm still mad they didn't even give us any direction!" This teenager had a fiery attitude, but definitely carefree as well. He was five foot ten, towering his friend a little, due to his also unnaturally spiky hair, which stuck up in the air like a broom. It was shaded in auburn and his eyes matched them, although they had a tint of brown to them. His skin complexion was also fair, but a tone darker than the spiky-blond's. He wore a large, orange-brown shirt that looked oversized but wasn't—in actuality, it was just a tunic. It had a strange green pattern threaded in the center of this cotton-brand top. The pants he wore were a medium-toned blue color, his boots and full gloves being the same, leather brown as his friend's.

"Don't worry about it, Garet. Maybe they…didn't know what we _should_ be doing. I mean, it's not like they've had to go on this sort of journey before." The blond said, folding the map and putting it in his bag.

Garet 'hmphed' and crossed his arms. "Still. They didn't even guide us to Vault in the very least. Now we have to track down Felix's group and stuff on our own, Isaac."

"Then, let's hurry on so we can get to Vault and see if they've seen Felix's group pass through." Isaac pointed out.

"All right then. There's no use complaining about what's happened. Let's go!" The red-head teen put on a smile, marching forward. Isaac sighed and chuckled to himself.

"Um, Garet?"

"Yeah, Isaac?"

"Vault is _that_ way." He pointed, directing his childhood friend in the right path.

"Oh…" Garet sweatdropped comically, feeling embarrassed and switched his direction quickly. "I…I knew that."

Isaac shook his head and followed his eager companion. The two walked along the dirt road, side by side and in light silence. It was disturbed by two Big Mushrooms appearing out of nowhere, though! Garet and Isaac took out their swords and prepared themselves for this fight, which would be ridiculously easy. They spread apart as the Big Mushrooms followed their every movement. One of them attacked Garet, but the burly teenager dodged, quickly cutting it down with a critical attack of his light blade. Isaac rolled out of the way when the other Big Mushroom lunged itself at him, and he quickly assumed Flint's power into his sword and hacked away. The second monster was felled easily after that. "Huh, not so tough now that we're stronger." The Fire Adept huffed, sheathing his sword.

"Yeah, but we shouldn't underestimate any monster while out here." Isaac added, also depositing his sword into its sheath. "I figure it'll be like this the entire journey. Monsters coming out of nowhere and attacking us."

"Ugh." Garet groaned again.

"Come along, Garet. We've got to head to Vault."

"Coming, coming."

The teens continue back on track, making conversation about their youth, Jenna, and everyone back home. The topic of Isaac's mother, Dora, popped in, though Garet assured his friend his mother was fine. A good hour or so passed, the sun shifted very slightly in the sky, and the two stopped briefly for a rest. They took out their water canteens and drank some water from them. "Man, how much longer until we reach Vault again…?" Garet complained, yet again. He was obviously tired of walking. Isaac looked up into the sky, watching the sun, and then looking at his shadow as he stayed motionless for a good minute.

"Well, we have about an hour and a half left of the way." The Earth Adept told his friend, pulling out the map once more to mark their location. "Actually, we should make it there within ten minutes if we're lucky and don't run into constant monster battles."

"Oh, good. I'm getting tired of walking."

"Walking is good exercise, you know."

"Yeah, but _this_ walking is annoying and boring."

"You'll live, Garet. We'll leave again after five more minutes." Isaac rolled up the map again and stuffed it back into his bag once more. A couple more groans and complaints from Garet later and they eventually set out again. In the ten minutes they traveled on the dirt road, avoiding monsters as well, the village town of Vault was just ahead. Some people were going through the village's gate, a sign of life for the two teenagers. "Finally!" The Fire Adept jeered in delight. "Somewhere we can actually lie in soft beds and eat good food!" Isaac half chuckled, watching his enthusiastic friend hurry over towards the town. The blond followed him, but suddenly tripped!

"Oof!" Isaac grunted as he tumbled down, almost face flat. Thankfully, he caught himself before his face met the ground. "What in the…?"

"Hey, Isaac! Are you okay?" Garet asked as he rushed towards his friend. "You tripped and I got worried."

"I'm fine." The Earth Adept said as he was helped up. "But what exactly did I trip over?"

"I'm not sure—whoa."

"Huh?"

The two turn around to see what Isaac had tripped over and noticed it was a body upon the ground. They instantly shuddered it was a dead body at first, but Isaac could sense a familiarity in this person, watching how lightly their chest rose. They weren't dead; this person was sleeping, or worse, unconscious. "Garet, this guy isn't dead, calm down." Isaac told him, carefully approaching the fainted person's body. He examined the man further—who actually turned out to be a teenager like them, noticing there were cuts and bruises along his face, and the awkward position he was in hinted he had been struck in the head and legs. Isaac narrowed his eyes, almost scowling. "He's hurt. Someone must have struck him and ran." He announced.

"That's awful!" Garet snapped in worry. "Can't you heal him, Isaac?"

"Yeah, I can. But he'll need to be brought to the village to fully recover though. There could be a priest there that can tend to his wounds properly." The blond said as he waved his hand over the other teen's body. A golden light emitted from the palm of his hand and with a voiced "**Cure**," the energy flowed from Isaac's hand and onto the wounds. The blond knew he wasn't a skilled healer, but his healing spells would come in handy for him and Garet along their journey. The injuries the young male had sustained cleared up and his once hoarse, labored breathing rested into a steady pace. A sigh of relief escaped the Adepts' mouths.

"At least he's alive, thank goodness." Garet said as he stepped forward.

"Yeah." Isaac agreed, watching the unconscious teen on the ground. That odd sense of familiarity struck him again, but he shook it off.

"…Hey Isaac?"

"Yes Garet?"

"…Do you have a brother or something? This guys looks _just_ like you."

The spiky-blond flushed slightly though shook his head. "No. I'm an only child, Garet. You know that."

"Yeah, but…he looks an awful lot like you. Maybe he's your cousin from Kyle's side?"

"I wouldn't know that. Mom and Dad never spoke about any relatives to me when I was growing up so I never assumed I had other family members." The two friends stare at the lying form of the other teen and frown. Who was this guy? Why does he bear an uncanny resemblance to Isaac? Whatever the reason, Isaac assumed this guy _may_ be someone from his family. He could see some form of resemblances, so why not? It was tricky though, knowing a stranger was related to you and you had no idea. "Before we assume he and I are related by any strange means, we should carry him to Vault with us. We can't leave him here."

"Yeah, let's do—"

"Ugh…" The Vale-natives paused and jumped a bit when they heard a groan from the other teenager Isaac-lookalike. A hand went to his head as he sat up, the leaves and grass that had been in his hair falling out when he did. He had fair skin complexion, the very same shade as Isaac's, his hair was spiky, if not spikier than Isaac's, and a shade darker than aforementioned Adept. It swept more to the right while Isaac's had gone leftmost, though parts of his stuck out rightwards. He had on a dark red, long sleeve shirt topped with a blue, short sleeve jacket that ended at chest length and exposed the red shirt underneath. The full leather gloves he wore were brown as well, though had gold bands around the wrists. His pants were a darker tone of navy blue and he wore a shade of auburn brown boots on his feet. He had a sheath strapped to his back, with a sword in it—but what caught the boys' attention most was the mysterious teen's orange-yellow scarf draped around his neck!

Isaac and Garet shared glances with one another, eyes wide, then looked down at Isaac's own scarf. What the?

"Wow, Isaac, I didn't know there was another scarf like yours out there! It must be some popular fashion trend or something."

"Garet…my scarf was made in Vale. _No one_ else has this kind of scarf."

"Well, apparently someone _does_."

"…Isaac? M-my father?" They heard the other teen mumble under his breath. His voice sounded so close to Isaac's own, it startled the Earth Adept. They turned to him, noticing shades of pale-blue eyes were staring at them. So, this guy had the same eye color as Isaac? Or, close to it? What in the world was going on?! The clueless teen stared at them some more, roving over their images and formatting them into his memory. One of them was called Isaac, he remembered that name well. When he examined further and noted Isaac's scarf, he gaped in terror and disbelief. "Your…name is Isaac?" the other blond teen asked, uncertainty clinging to his voice.

"…Uh, yes it is." Isaac replied, "Who's your dad?" This made the other teen flinch visibly.

"…What's wrong?" Garet wondered, baffled.

"No…It can't be…" the boy said his bottom lip quivering as he looked down in his hands. "Th-that must mean…you're…Garet." His eyes met the brown confused ones of aforesaid teenager, who was gaping at him.

"W-wait, how do you know my name? I-I never told you!"

_If this is Isaac and Garet, then…that means I…? No, I'm…I'm thirty years in the past! This is my father and Uncle Garet in the past. What do I tell them? How'd I get here anyway? They'll be suspicious if I start pointing out things they do or rather used to do. Come on, think of something._ The other boy thought, trying to quell his inner discovery. "I…uh…heard it when you were…talking earlier." He half lied, hoping Garet would buy it. The Fire Adept did and he seemed to ponder.

"Oh… W-well I guess that makes sense. We were kind of talking too loud."

_Whew, that went well._ The mysterious teenager sighed to himself. "…Where am I?"

"You're outside the village of Vault." Isaac replied again, sitting up. "Garet and I were on our way there to rest up and restock. We just left Vale a few days ago." He offered a hand to help the other teen up; he accepted and was helped up to his feet. Both felt that strange oddity of familiarity with each other, though the Earth Adept of Vale couldn't figure out why it was. But the other could and knew why. There was no mistaking it; this teenager was his father of the past. "Huh, that was strange…" Isaac said softly, staring at the other teen before running a hand through his untamed locks.

"Y-yeah." The other blond responded half shyly.

"Wait, you felt that?"

"Kind of."

"He felt what?" Garet inquired, staring at them. Isaac turned to him, baffled for words.

"I—when I helped him up, I felt this strange jitter in my mind that I…well, it was strange, and he felt it, too."

"So it was something that messed with your Psynergy?" The redhead asked again, curious, looking at the other teenager as Isaac nodded. "So, that means he must be an Adept!"

_Of course I am, Uncle Garet. But, I can't let them know too much… It would destroy the timeline I was born in and then I wouldn't exist. Just play along…_ "Uh…what is an Adept?"

"You don't know what an Adept is!?" Garet nearly shouted, surprised.

"…No." The teenager answered again, baiting into his own lie. "I…I've used strange powers when I was…growing up, but I never knew what they were called."

Isaac and Garet exchanged glances with one another and seemingly approved with something that was said. They both rounded on the younger-aged teenager and smiled. "I guess where we come from, it's very common talk. People who can use strange powers are called Adepts. The power they use is called Psynergy." Isaac explained. "I guess there are others out there that don't come from our village by default then."

_I'm aware, Dad. You taught me this yourself._ "Oh… So, that's what it's called."

"Yeah!" Garet grinned. "So, if you're an Adept, and you can use Psynergy, what's your element?"

The teenager blinked curiously at the redhead, though it was more of an act with them, for now of course. "Uh, I think it's…earth. I'm good with making the ground do what I want."

"Ah, then you're an Earth Adept like Isaac!" chirped Garet brightly. "So, what's your name?"

Without thinking or putting much thought in, the teen responded with, "Matthew," simply. Just as he said that, his eyes widened again and snapped his head in Isaac's direction. The other blond-haired teenager was gaping at Matthew as if he had grown five heads and three tails. Uh-oh. That _wasn't_ the reaction Matthew was counting on. _Oh damn. I just ruined it for myself. How could I forget like that? If Dad suddenly remembers my name from his future self, then things will become—_

"Matthew? You…you said your name was Matthew?" Isaac repeated, shuddering. Hesitantly, Matthew nodded though was berating himself mentally. Isaac closed his eyes as he put a hand to his forehead, shaking his head. "No way…" The Valean teen mumbled though each letter of his surprised tone was heard by the other Earth Adept. Garet, still confused, looked at Matthew then to Isaac and scratched his head. "What's going on? What're you two gaping and trembling like that for?"

Pairs of pale-blue eyes were glancing the Fire Adept's way and he backed up a little. "W-whoa, don't hit me for that." Garet stammered. His friend shook out of his trance and smiled.

"Sorry. I just… I felt I knew that name from somewhere." Isaac admitted. "But, I don't ever recall it ever being said strangely enough." But Matthew was not convinced entirely. Surely, just the mentioning of his full name was scarring the timeline in some way, he thought he could literally feel it. This was bad, and the teen needed to figure out how to get back to his time period before he screwed up his parents'. Speaking of, where was his mother? Where had Jenna gone? Before he could ask, Garet thumbed the way to Vault.

"Hey, sorry to bother but are you coming?"

"H-huh?" Matthew babbled out.

"Isaac and I are going ahead to Vault. Want to come along?"

Matthew stayed rooted in place, no pun intended. Should he go along with his father and uncle of the past? There was one thing he didn't know and that was the world of Weyard thirty years before his birth. He didn't know where everything was before the world expanded and the continents shifted. _Okay, Matt, calm down. You're only going with them for now, just to Vault. I can get some information and a map of the world from there, and then start figuring out how to get to my own time period._ He thought to himself again, trying to reassure the situation in-mind. However, he felt every second spent with them was destroying the timeline. Still, it wasn't going to be for long that he'd stay in their company, right? Right! "Uh, hello earth to Matthew!" Garet waved his hand in the teen's face, trying to make him snap to.

"…Funny pun, Unc—Garet." Matthew chuckled as he caught himself from slipping up. "Yeah, I may as well go with you two. I don't know where I'm going, really. I got lost." Not entirely a lie, it was the truth after all. "I could buy a map and everything for my…way home and all."

"Oh, okay then. Well, I know it was a shaky start," Garet said as he, Isaac and Matthew began their way towards Vault. "But my name's Garet. I'm a Fire Adept!"

"I'm Isaac, and an Earth Adept, much like you." The first blond swordsman grinned after. Matthew nodded, but already knew who they were before they told him. Oh, this was going to be a long day…

_How'd I get dropped into this…?_ Matthew questioned himself, wondering to every god or deity that existed why he was put here, in this particular time period were if he did one little thing, his existence would have screwed up. That was absolutely perfect. _Perfect indeed._ He scowled sarcastically. How would he get out of this one?

* * *

Lol poor Matt! I love torturing him! Also, I know Garet's not Matt's real uncle, but it's more of a title for him than calling him "Mr. Garet".

Review if you like! xD


	2. Chapter 2

Oh me oh my! I got…technically three reviews, if we don't count the double posts (which I don't mind). I guess this is a good story! I should make it humor, huh? I might make more puns later on in the story or some random stuff happens. But that depends. So! To my lovely responses for chapter 1:

**Jupitergirl132 (Guest):** Glad you liked the first chapter! As for shipping, I confess I'm still new to the GS shipping pairings. I only know two, Mudshipping and Dawnshipping, so yeah. I assume Sparkshipping is Isaac and Garet? Anyway, I was actually going to have Tyrell drop in somewhere in the story and ruin everything, but that'll be until a bit later. Same with Karis… Who else should be in there? Oh, Amiti. Just to screw with Alex's mind. Heh. I could also drop Rief in, too. As for your second review/comment, I wasn't planning on any pairings at all, as my original copy of this didn't either. But, we'll see, okay?

**abyssdoor:** Well, seeing as Ivan's coming up next, Matt will have to constantly block out Ivan's mind reading ability with a mental wall probably for majority of the journey. xD Man, that's going to be fun. Just as planned…

**Not Logged In (Guest):** Ahh! I stole your idea? Dx I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I know I'm not psychic, but I tend to do things that other people will eventually do and then they somehow find me and say "I was gonna do that!". It's a never-ending vicious cycle, I promise. xD I really don't know why anyone in the GS archives didn't have any time-travel fics out. As you said, those are very popular, especially if they're the "what-ifs" and all. I _wish_ the fic came to me in a dream, and it sort of did; I just self-reminded myself to post the darn story once and for all to get it off my chest. My original time-travel fic actually had Matthew wind up with Felix's group, but I modified it over the past few months.

As for your review, thank-you! I'm sure your writing style and skill is beyond mine, and yours would have came out better than mine, I'm sure. I'm sorry if I…uh, scared you with this. I had no intentions of stealing stories from people using my nonexistent psychic powers. As for your second review/comment, no worries, mate. I was imagining someone going "rageface!" in a comical way when you said I stole the idea. I have proof I started this last year if you want to see the hand writing and all. (It's atrocious, though) No need to apologize; like I said, I had a feeling you were joking. If you were really upset I had stolen your idea, I would felt the tension of your words from your previous review. But, as creepy as this may sound, I didn't feel that. Anyway, apology accepted, even though you weren't at fault.

Thanks for all the reviews and story favorites! Now, we can have Ivan torment Matthew in this chapter, somewhat! Hurray! Well, Ivan does come in this chapter.

-x-x-x-

**Dropping In**

Chapter 2

-x-x-x-

When the trio of Adepts arrived in Vault, the first thing they noticed was the bridge crossing over above them. They awed over it and continued making their way through the village. A man with brown hair, standing outside a house—most likely his—was approached by Isaac. He asked the location of the inn, and pointed the way there. The Valean Earth Adept nodded, returned to his friends—he assumed Matthew could be called one now—and they headed that way. They saw another house next door to the first one they passed, which was a two story. Behind that house was a built-in cave store, one selling medicine and the other selling weapons. Matthew raised an eyebrow to that, amused in the least. _Nifty, I guess._ He noted to himself, turning back to his past-father and his friend. He still found it creepy he was in their time period, of all places. Adjacent to the second house in Vault they saw, there was the two story inn, obviously marked with a sign. Unfortunately, Garet didn't notice it.

"Hey, where's the inn?" The redhead wondered.

"…It's right here, Garet." Isaac pointed out, chuckling.

"Oh… I knew that." was his response. Matthew wanted to slap him, but that wouldn't have boded well. Was his uncle _really_ that dense? He knew the man was smart, and maybe reacted upon instinct or something. Standing outside the inn was another man, who had been keeping an eye on two children running around a well, behind a few trees. Atop the hillside, there was a small, Dalamation-looking dog standing near a ring of tombstones. Matthew saw it, noting there could be something interesting there. He was about to tell his young father and Garet about the discovery but remembered they didn't have anything like Himi's Search to identify the hidden whatever was there. Great.

"Hey, Matt!" came the calling of Garet's voice to the second blond-haired swordsman. "We're going to get a room. Coming?"

"Oh, y-yeah." The Earth Adept-of-the-future replied, following after the redhead. When they were in, they spotted a man with a brown beard, dressed in blue overalls, sitting behind his desk. Various pots decorated a table on the right-hand side near a window, and a path that lead to the owner's private quarters were most likely to the left. A few carpets, a few red and one intricately designed one near the desk, were upon the wooden floor to provide homely comfort to many weary travelers. The teens made their way to the counter, with Isaac in the lead.

"Excuse me." Isaac said as his hand reached the desk, catching the man's attention.

"Ah, welcome to the Vault Inn, boys." The brown-haired bearded man greeted with a smile. "Would you like to rent a room?"

"Yes please."

"It's sixteen coins for a room."

"For all of us in one room?" Garet asked.

"Of course…that is, unless you're uncomfortable with that? It's sixteen coins per person per room, if you want to—" The man started but Isaac already took out the appropriate amount and handed the man the money.

"No, we're fine sharing a room. Thank-you, sir." The brunet nodded, accepting the payment, handing him a key to the room. Isaac took it, nodded graciously and led Garet and Matthew towards the second floor stairs. Isaac found the door to their room, unlocked it and took the bed near the door. "Ah man…" the first blond said with a light yawn.

"Whew, finally!" Garet sighed in relief, ready to unwind, taking the second bed near Isaac's. "My feet hurt from walking so much!"

"Walking's good for you, you know." Isaac repeated to his friend, who groaned.

"Yeah, yeah!" Garet waved him off. "I wish there was an easier way to go about this journey."

Matthew, having listened to their somewhat conversation, took the last bed, sitting on it and minded his own business. He figured the less he had contact, whether physically or verbally, with his father and Garet, the better chances he had of not screwing things up. Perhaps if he stayed silent enough, they'll not notice him… "Hey, Matthew. I've got a question for you." Damn, spoke too soon. The younger swordsman looked up to his name-caller, glancing at Garet, who inquired upon him, then to Isaac, almost hesitant. What would he ask him? "Are you and Isaac related?" Of all questions to ask, Garet would say that particular one. _Of course I'm related to him. He's my father._ He wanted to say, but he knew all hell would break loose if he did.

Instead, Matthew had to think up of a lie. It had to be something so outlandish that it was believable, and they would buy it. His grandfather, Kyle, actually had relatives, but they were far away, apparently. His grandmother passed away before he was able to fully remember her, so he never knew what she was like, only through stories of his present family were told about her. But, still. If he said anything that he was a relative from Kyle's side, there would be no doubt his father would press onto the matter with his mother, Dora, later on. That is, the Dora of the past. Finally, after giving up on formulating a plausible lie, Matthew said, "No, I'm not related to him. Why would you think that?" Stupid question, but it would stall for something else to brew in his mind.

"Well, you and he share _very_ similar appearances." Garet pointed out. "I know my best friend since we were toddlers and I can tell that nobody else looks like this guy…except you."

"Yeah. And you're definitely not my brother unless my dad married another woman before he met my mom." Isaac said as he crossed his arms, pondering.

Matthew closed his eyes. He was getting trapped in by their questions and point-outs. "Well, that can't be… I'm sixteen. I'm a year younger than you, I-I think." Seeing Isaac's nodding in agreement, the younger blond sighed in relief. He almost slipped up there again. "I am going on seventeen soon…" Isaac replied after, still thinking on the situation.

"Then, Kyle must have gotten together with another person after he married your mom, Isaac! He was secretly dating two women!" Garet said with wide eyes.

Isaac shot his friend a glare. "My father isn't like that! He's faithful only to my mother, Garet. He would _never_ stoop so low to cheat on her."

Garet threw his arms up in defense, flinching at the Earth Adept's light fury. "Whoa, chill man! I…I was just throwing out a possibility, you know? I mean, anything could have happened that brought Matthew into the world, y'know?" Aforementioned teen remained quiet through their bantering, not wanting to add anything to the conversation—unnecessarily, if one could say—that could have possibly worsened it. "Okay, so we scratch out your dad's having another kid… What if he really is your brother and your mother was hiding him the whole time?" Isaac shook his head again at this.

"No, I would have noticed."

"Okay, then Dora must have gotten with another man—"

"Garet…" Isaac growled darkly.

"…Does it really matter where I came from?" Matthew finished next, hoping to break up the building tension and rage within the room between the two. Both past Adepts snapped their attention to the speaker, who remained as calm as a summer day. "I mean, it's not really important."

"Yes it is!" Garet said. "It's driving me insane not knowing why you look so much like my best friend!"

"Is it really bothering you that much, Garet?"

"YES!"

Matthew and Isaac sighed in exasperation, face-palming at the same time. After that, the Earth Adept of Vale turned his gaze towards Matthew, who noticed it and they locked glances for a moment. Yes, something deep down, there was some similar sense of familiarity radiating off the other Adept, Isaac couldn't put his finger on it. The way he sensed Matthew's Psynergy aura, it felt like he was sensing his own. He also wanted to know why their new companion shared similarities with him, though he wasn't going to allow it to drive him to madness like it had done for Garet. "We'll worry about that later." The Valean blond said after a creeping silence between them. "Matthew, I meant to take you to the healer of this village. You may still have bruises and untended injuries. It'd be wise if they were, well, treated."

"Hm? Oh, I'm not hurt." Matthew stated blandly.

"But…"

"I'm fine D—I-Isaac." Whew, that was close. "I'm…capable of healing myself, and the injuries I sustained aren't serious."

Isaac stared at him, oblivious to the other teen's near slip-up of calling him his parental name. "When we found you, you looked like someone had slung a good one to your head and to your legs." He pointed out seriously.

"Oh, well I'm fine now. You healed me, after all." Matthew stated back. Knowing how persistent his father was when it came to injuries, no matter how small, the teen could literally see the concern flashing in his father's younger eyes. Things never change, apparently. While Matthew liked the half attention he was getting from his dad of the past—who still didn't know an inkling of his future son's existence, and Matthew was going to be sure he _never_ found out—it was becoming rather, dare he say, irksome. He didn't want to be pestered by their onslaught of questions, especially of his relation to the Valean. Already, this was becoming troublesome.

"Don't…worry about it I…Isaac." Matthew stumbled over the other blond's name, fidgeting slightly when he had to say it, or rather, forcing himself to say it. He felt so disrespectful, but he had to push that away in order to draw less suspicion towards him.

"If you're sure…"

"Very."

After that, the second spiky-blond rose from his bed, stretching. Something prodded his mind and he chided himself for nearly forgetting. _I nearly forgot to get a map of Weyard. Sounds weird when I do have one, but it doesn't match this time period, of course. Curse my luck._ Matthew glanced at Garet, who was on his bed, grumbling and Isaac, who continued to stare at him with matching blue eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Going to get me a map, remember?"

"Oh, right." Isaac recalled. "Do you need me to go with you?" Deep down, Matthew wanted his father to go with him. He wanted to ask him questions of what he did as a child, as his father of his own time hardly spoke of his childhood to him. He would always call it "irrelevant" and never brush upon the topic again. Garet would sometimes speak of it, briefly, but it wasn't much to go on. If he was going to be stuck in the past for awhile, may as well use it to his advantage. Perhaps, he could establish a closer bond to his father if he learned more about him when he was his age and things before then.

Also, seeing as this was Isaac's and Garet's first time in Vault as well as his, they may as well explore the place together. "I don't mind." Matthew responded finally after a minute of silence. Isaac smiled and sat up from the bed he was sitting on. He straightened his scarf and made sure his sheath and sword were secured. "Garet, want to come along?" Isaac invited to the redhead.

"No, I'm staying RIGHT here." The Fire Adept pouted, obviously still being upset with the fact he couldn't identify Matthew's uncanny resemblance to his friend and whose side of the family of Isaac's he came from. It all bothered him to the point he furiously denied being near the other Earth Adept at the moment.

"Are you still upset?" the Valean blond questioned.

"Yes."

A sigh escaped Isaac's mouth. "Garet, just let it go…"

"I can't. It's bothering me. I'll figure it out, just watch!"

"It's really not that serious." Isaac tried defending the situation.

"It _is_ serious, Isaac. I know you're just as curious about it as me." The redhead huffed. "I'd be pretty suspicious if some guy randomly appeared from nowhere, I tripped over him, and as it turns out, he looked just like me!" Isaac opened his mouth to object but found his friend was right. Garet was right for once. Pale-blue eyes stared at the brown ones of his friend, but with a sigh of defeat, Isaac relented. "You're right, Garet. I am curious, but I'm not going to let it bother me."

"Ugh." Garet groaned. "Well, fine then. I guess I can't help change your mind on this." His brown eyes met with Matthew's similarly pale-blue ones. "Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one…"

_Don't bet your cookies on it, Uncle Garet._ Matthew thought as he turned for the door. "Well, guess we better go now." He told Isaac.

"Yeah. We'll be back, Garet. Try not to fume and flame things while we're out." The blond sent with a light chuckle.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?"

Left without an answer, the two blond-haired Adepts left the room, keeping the key, and headed towards the stairs. Whilst walking in tandem with Matthew, Isaac began observing the other Earth Adept closely, being watchful on what he did. While the presence of the other really didn't bother him, remembering Garet's words moments ago had an effect. The teenager, while he didn't notice it at first, was walking in the same manner as he had. Isaac subconsciously rocked his arms while he walked, so did Matthew. The pace the other teen was moving at, felt very familiar, and not only that, he couldn't get his eyes off that scarf that draped around the other blond's neck. Isaac had a feeling it was similar—if not the same—as his. Did Matthew get his made in Vale, he wondered.

It was likely, then unlikely, as not many travelers came upon Vale. In fact, the village was like hidden away from the world, as it served its role of protecting the Sol Sanctum. Those born in Vale would always be Adepts of some kind—namely Fire or Earth Adepts. However, Matthew didn't appear he was from Vale at all, and if he was, Isaac hadn't ever seen him. In fact, he knew just about _everyone_ in Vale like the back of his hand and nothing of Matthew's existence ever popped up. It didn't make any sense, but now when he thought back on what Garet said, something sparked his interest. _What if Matthew really _is _a brother of mine that I didn't know about? Like, a half-brother…? I know I don't like thinking about it, but I also can't rule out the possibility._ Of all the wondering he could ponder, this seemed very accurate to him.

Now, just which parent of his made this offspring come to light?

Isaac thought about his mother, and the resemblances they shared. Isaac had her hair color and eye color, of course, and so did Matthew. However, as far as he knew, Dora didn't share the wild hair as he and Matthew did, so that ruled out. The only one who could have done so was his father, which made him shudder. Why would his father go behind his mother's back, cheat on her, and then have Matthew? And, why would he keep the boy hidden from them for so long? There were instances where the man in question would be gone for a long time, but until now, Isaac hadn't put much thought into it. Kyle and the boys shared many similarities, one being the wild, spiky hair, the shape of eyes and their faces. If this was true, Matthew's mother must have had blond hair, or close enough to it that her genes dominated for the teen's hair color.

Kyle didn't have blue eyes like his son and his wife, so Matthew's mother must have had blue eyes for them to pass down genetically. The more Isaac puzzled in the clues of the mystery of Matthew, aforementioned teenager had stopped when he noticed his fellow Earth Adept had been trailing behind him. "Isaac?" The Adept-of-the-future wondered, those same-shade of blue irises staring at him. Also, it seemed as if he were having a hard time pronouncing the other's name, for some reason. Well, that was odd, but Isaac shook it aside. "Yes?"

"You're sort of falling behind. Is there something wrong?"

_Of course there is. I'm in the middle of discovering that you could be my half-brother._ "No. I was just thinking, is all."

"Oh, I see." Matthew said flatly, not wanting to pry into his father's business. "Well, we're at the item shop. I asked some of the villagers to direct us there. I can purchase a map here, and then I suppose I'll be on my way after a good night's rest." This stabbed Isaac's heart a little, the blond resting his focus upon the other blond-haired swordsman. He was leaving them? So soon and while he was putting the picture together? For all Isaac knew, his little brother was going to leave him! "Wait, you're…going to leave?" He asked, voice hesitant and shaking.

"Yeah." Matthew replied, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

Isaac shook his head. "Well, I…"

"…"

There was a moment of silence before Isaac sighed deeply, lowering his head. If it was true, if Matthew was truly his half-brother, someone his father helped bring into existence then Isaac would hold dearly to him. He was Kyle's last line, the very thing his father left behind, even if he was supposed to be a secret. If that was true, then Dora didn't know this. "…Matthew…I just want to know something."

Not knowing where this was going, but had a chilling sensation crawl upon his back, the teen by name answered. "…Yes, Isaac…?"

A moment of pause circled them as the village noise dulled as background sounds like natural effects in a movie. Isaac brought his hand to his face, trying to force back any tears that would soon pour down his face. He had to know. He had to know if this boy in front of him was his father's son, his brother, someone in relation to him. They looked so much alike, they shared the same element in Psynergy, hell even their scarves were similar. Only Kyle could provide heavy genes like those and they were evident on Matthew as they were to Isaac. "Are you my…" Matthew froze as the words formed into his past father's mouth. Oh man, did he just realize who he really was? His blue eyes widened in shock, bottom lip quivering, and his hands clamming up in sweat, despite they were in gloves.

_Crap…How'd Dad figure it out so soon? I hid it well enough, didn't I?_ He asked himself, paling as each second slipped by. The worst of his fears were revealing themselves and it hadn't been a few hours in the day yet. The timeline was going to be screwed, the teen could feel it. His very existence would be wiped, and the Grave Eclipse would have occurred probably, but just without him. People would die again, and though it wouldn't be his fault, it technically _would_ have. He somehow traveled to the past and ruined the events that led to his birth as well as his friends, and the continents of Weyard shifting. In other words, the world was screwed.

"…my brother?"

Isaac finished his question and fortunately for Matthew, it wasn't the one he feared of. His shoulders relaxed and he sighed in utter relief. His father _hadn't_ figured it out thankfully, but he was sure he couldn't count on instances like these. At least the timeline didn't implode. But, now he was being asked if he were a relative of Isaac's? Not in the way he imagined, but it was still there. The clammy feeling in his hands didn't go away yet, and neither did his pale expression. He and Isaac stared at one another, one's eyes held a look of grim while the other had hope in his eyes. Did Isaac truly believe he was his brother? _What kind of question is this—wait._ Matthew paused in his thoughts. _If Dad starts thinking of me as a brother, perhaps I won't get questioned anymore about why I look so much like him. It's risky, but I'll have to wing it and lie… I don't know if it'll have any effect on my Dad in my time, but I can't let him know who I really am._ He sighed inwardly as he looked at the situation he was in.

_Yeah, it's the only shot I have. Grandfather, Grandmother, here's to hoping I don't screw this up._

"…Are you?" Isaac repeated, still hopeful.

Matthew closed his eyes, donning on his thoughts of lying to his father once again. He didn't want to, but it was his only option. "Sixteen years ago…" The blond began, fiddling into his lie, "our…father had a relationship with Dora, your mother. However, after Kyle married to Dora and was devoted… he began slipping in and out of the marriage." Matthew grinded himself for the lie, but he noticed it was having an effect on Isaac, who was gaping at him with dinner-plate sized eyeballs. "It was probably unintended, but he…"

"…Father…messed with another woman, regardless of his marriage?" Isaac finished for him, though in disbelief. "I…was probably going on one that time…"

"Most likely."

Those tears he wanted to punch back rolled down his eyes. Isaac looked away when they did, unable to contain them. Why would Kyle do such a thing? Betray his family by cheating on his mother? What were the reasons behind it? As badly as he demanded answers from his father, he couldn't get them. Those secrets died with the man three years ago when Mt. Aleph erupted. Now, all that was left of the man's memories was this kid who looked like Isaac in every way. His only 'memento' of Kyle was in the form of a human life. As angry as the teen wanted to be, he couldn't be upset at his father's actions or at Matthew. In a dumb sense of realization, he was…happy. He had been the only child, or so he thought, for so long. Garet, Felix and Jenna were his best friends and treated him like family, but he hadn't a sibling to call his own. Garet had two sisters and a brother, Jenna and Felix were siblings and Isaac had nobody. The sudden realization of his half-brother right in front of him gave him hope, gave him another reason to be jittery.

_That's why I felt some form of familiarity from him earlier. That's why it felt like I knew him, but I didn't. He's my brother!_ Isaac yelled at himself in-thought. _Half-brother or not, he's still apart of me, apart of my family. I…have a sibling._

Matthew stared at Isaac, who was taking slow, heavy breaths to calm his excitement down. As much as he loathed lying, he nearly believed his own lie. Must have been a very good one. Now, he would have to play the role of his father's supposed young sibling in order to avoid telling the real truth. That meant, he would have to stick around his father and Garet longer than he expected; somehow, Isaac wasn't going to let him leave the party after figuring out who he 'was' in relation to him. Even as an older man in his time, the guy was stubborn and almost clingy. That was perfect…Now he couldn't wander off in Weyard and find a solution to his time-traveling predicament.

"Matthew… Why didn't you tell me when we first met hours ago?" Oh, the dreaded question.

"I…wasn't so sure it was you at first." He lied again, but portions of it were true. He did know, then again, he didn't, if that made any lick of sense. "Gra—Kyle told me that one day I'd meet my brother, but when I was older. I'm ashamed to say I don't know my mother very well. She died when I was two years old and I was living with foster parents growing up majority of my life. I didn't know if you truly existed or not, but I had some hope." Isaac remained silent and stiff at the news, looking down again. His brother suffered all this time, hoping he would be there for him, and yet, he couldn't. But, how would he tell him their father was killed by a giant boulder from Sol Sanctum three years ago? No, he couldn't. It would surely crush the teen's heart. Maybe another time…

"I'm sorry, Matthew."

"Don't be, Isaac, okay? None of it…was your fault. I should be sorry." _Sorry that I lied to you right in your face._

"You're not to…blame. I can't get mad at you. You're innocent to this. But…" Their eyes locked again, and a light, warm smile etched itself on Isaac's face. "I'm…glad to know I have a sibling, and one that's really close to my age." A bit shaky for a moment, Isaac slowly approached his clone, carbon-copy of a brother and hugged him into the tightest embrace possible. Matthew stood there shocked for a second. He hadn't known what would happen if he came into physical contact with his father of the past, afraid of the effects it would have or may make. But, it didn't seem to affect him at all. Slowly as Isaac had, Matthew closed his 'brother' into a comforting hug, though was dying on the inside. He couldn't remember the last time his father hugged him this tightly before and with love to add. This was a moment he would surely enjoy.

A moment later, Isaac released his newfound brother and smiled. "We have a map, Matthew. You don't really need one, since you're coming with us."

"But I—" _Need to get to my own time period!_

"I can't just let you leave like that. I mean, we both found out we were actually brothers! Family should stick together." And there was that stubbornness Matthew anticipated and knew all too well. Well, so much for traveling Weyard alone thirty years in the past. "We need to be together, for Dad's sake."

_Well, Grandfather would probably want that._ Matthew mumbled in-thought. "All right then…I'll stay." He relented, half reluctantly as well, but hid that.

Isaac smiled triumphantly. "Good. Well, while we're out, may as well stock up on items."

So the two 'brothers' went ahead towards the item shop, opening the door and going in. A lovely young woman with orange-blond hair, green eyes and wore a white dress greeted them, offering the items she had in stock. It wasn't much—just herbs and antidotes. While Matthew knew how to cure himself from near dying tragedies with healing Psynergy spells, his father and Garet most likely didn't yet, save for Isaac's Cure spell. That would come in handy, and so would Matthew's. That and being poisoned while traveling about wasn't a good idea, so stocking up on antidotes was important. Before Isaac could leave, Matthew, knowing how shops worked, asked the lady for any special items in stock.

"Oh!" she squeaked, pulling out a drawer from behind her desk. "This is the best I have to offer, what would you like?" The pair of blond Adepts looked at the wares she pulled out, one gawked and the other smiled. She had potions, Psy Crystals and Water of Lives—all three being naturally hard to find while adventuring and only sold in shops anyhow. "The potion helps restore your energy to its fullest, these star-shaped crystals do the same, as I've heard and these precious golden droplets also invigorate to allies who are too exhausted in battles against monsters. Oh, I should say this would help you out if you're adventuring!" She explained as much as she could. While she understood two of the items she carried, the Psy Crystal was one she didn't seem keen on.

Unfortunately, neither did Isaac.

"All right. I'll take three of each." Matthew said, taking out his wallet.

"Wait, those are expensive." Isaac pointed out. "The potion costs one thousand coins, this Psy Crystal costs one thousand fifteen hundred coins and then the Water of Life costs three thousand coins." Matthew turned to his 'brother' and smiled as he was doing the math. It really wasn't that hard to understand. "So, why are you going to spend sixteen thousand and five hundred coins in one whole setting?" It was easily noticeable that Isaac was shocked and staring at his sibling.

"Yeah, it's no problem, Isaac."

"But that's a ton of money. How are you going to assume that amount?"

"I have deep pockets."

"…But."

Matthew paid the exact amount to the shop tender, surprising her he had enough to purchase all three and had a lot to spare, too. Isaac continued staring, wondering how the blond acquired so much money. Once the items were accepted and stored in the main bag the Valean carried, they left the item shop. "I can't believe you bought those." He said to the future-Adept, still in disbelief. "How'd you…get all that money?"

_Well, when you live in a world where monsters tend to drop coins after being defeated…wait, he does._ Matthew slapped himself mentally. Duh, this IS still Weyard, just thirty years ago. He had to keep reminding himself of that. "Well, I've been around…" He trailed, not really lying.

"Oh…"

"Isaaaaac!"

A voice called to him, the two looking up from their conversation to find Garet running towards them. Wait, if he was here, then who was watching their stuff in the room they rented? "Garet? What are you doing out here?" asked Isaac, blinking.

"Aren't you leaving your belongings unguarded, too?" Matthew questioned next.

Garet smirked as he approached them, coming to a stop. "I got a spare key from the innkeeper. I told you two had the key but I wanted to find you, so he gave me the spare temporarily. Anyway, listen, I figured out the possibility of how you two are related!" The Earth Adepts, if this were an anime, would have fallen down comically—but they didn't. Instead, they face-palmed. Here they thought Garet was going to announce something serious but the redhead apparently was fixed on figuring out if the blonds were related still! Really, Garet? Once the two Earth Adepts regained composure they narrowed their eyes at the Fire Adept. "Garet, we really thought you had something important to tell us." Isaac said, frowning.

"Yeah! Your relationship's important!" he huffed.

"Not really, since it was figured out not long ago…" Matthew smirked lightly, crossing his arms.

"Wait, really? So what are you, like cousins?"

"No Garet." Isaac smiled, glancing at Matthew. "We're actually brothers."

Now, the Fire Adept was gawking at them, but then grinned wide. "Ah-ha! I knew it! So, what he was like your long lost brother, Isaac?"

"You could say that…He's actually my half-brother."

"That's awesome! Now we can save the world together!"

Matthew froze. Wait, save the world together? He paused for a moment while the two Valeans were chatting away. _Hold on. If Dad and Garet are on a journey, then…that means…They're stopping the lighthouses from being lit? _He looked at the two teens and pondered some more. _That has to be it. It's just like in the Sun Saga. They must have gone through the Sol Sanctum already and received word from the Wise One to retrieve the Elemental Stars from those villains, Saturos and Menardi. But, then, if that's true, then Dad…He must have already—_ Matthew stopped as he saw the two were staring at him incredulously. "Matt? Why the sour and gloom face all of a sudden?" the red-haired Adept wondered.

"I just want to know something." He began, beginning to sound like his proclaimed uncle and father. "D—Isaac," he caught himself swiftly, "this is just a thought but, you said you two came from Vale, right?"

The blond nodded. "Yes."

"And…there's a sanctum of sorts residing there?"

"Yes."

"Then, you're on a journey to stop someone, aren't you?"

Oh, you should have seen the pairs of surprise and shock he was getting from the Valeans. They hadn't even uttered a word about it to Matthew, but here he was, already having figured out parts of why they were on a journey. How? They didn't say anything! Matthew studied their expressions and knew he hit a tight rope with them. Yep, just as he suspected; they were chasing down those villains, before the third Sun Saga book, before they met with his birth-uncle Felix and his group. Speaking of, where was that man? "How'd you know…? We never said anything."

"I'm not too sure myself…" Matt lied again, knowing full well he did. The books he read as a kid detailing his parents and their friends' journey around Weyard never told lies, like he was doing, ironically. "Some hidden hunch I got, I guess."

"Wow, you're like a mind-reader!" chirped Garet. "Oh yeah, on the way here, I overheard the villagers are kind of on edge. They're talking about thieves and that a boy inside the mayor's house was looking for something stolen or lost. They're saying the boy has some strange powers."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure what's really going on."

"We should help." Matthew suggested. "Do you know where the mayor's house is, Garet?" The spiky-haired auburn remained quiet for a second, drawing a blank. The pair of Earth Adepts clued in this was the part where Garet had no idea. They shared glances before sighing. "Never mind that, we'll ask around." Isaac said as his voice interrupted whatever emptiness was in his fiery friend's mind. "Come on, you two." The trio walked around the village, asking a kindly old lady where they would find the mayor's house. After she graciously pointed the way to them, they thanked her and made their way towards the house. When they got there, they didn't notice the sun was slowly edging towards the end of noonday, and the evening would rise up in a few hours. Stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky, but as before, that went unnoticed.

Isaac knocked on the door of the house and it was answered by a woman with a green dress on, having dark brown hair tied into a low ponytail. "How can I help you boys?" She asked.

"Um, we overheard something about thieves. We're here to help if we can." Isaac presented, hoping. "We heard something was stolen from, too."

"Oh, dears. Would you be as kind as to?"

"Yes ma'am."

The woman pondered a moment before allowing the boys into her house. However, when they were in, a scene unfolded just across the room. A man with white hair slicked back, a matching mustache, wearing a long coat of cream color, a dark green shirt, brown slacks and keeping himself steady with a cane, was talking to a boy much younger than the teens. He had short, blond hair—Garet complaining about 'there were too many blond-haired people' to himself—with a few cowlicks protruding from the top of his head. Matthew was instantly reminded of Amiti when he saw them. His eyes were a strong shade of amethyst, and his eyebrows seemingly mimicked that color. That was strange. The smaller blond was wearing a thick, green shirt over a purple tunic, brown straps tied to keep his near-magenta colored pants from falling down and dark brown boots upon his feet. Lastly, he had a green cape draped over his shoulders with an intricate design on the backside. All in all, he looked like a wizard or some rich noble kid.

"Ivan, I wish to assist you in your task, but I do not believe I will be of any help."

"I-It's all right." The boy called Ivan spoke. "I understand. I will just have to keep trying."

The Valeans glanced at one another as they absorbed the bits of the conversation they heard. So was Matthew, but now he froze again. That man had called that boy 'Ivan', and unfortunately, he only knew one Ivan. That meant only one thing. _Damn, it's Karis' dad in the past, of course. And if what she said was true about him reading minds, then I'm absolutely screwed._ He grumbled internally as the conversation before them continued.

"I won't give up, Mayor. Rest assured, your family urn and Master Hammet's rod will be found. I won't leave until I find it."

"Ivan…"

"I know it's going to be hard, but I can't…"

"We'll help!" Garet interrupted the conversation with his chirpy attitude, as usual. Ivan and the mayor spun around and looked at the three boys that had been standing there for a while, though their eyes went to the loud redhead instead. Garet turned to his two Earth Adept pals and grinned when they gave him a pair of scowling faces. "Did you really have to interrupt like that…?" Matthew asked with a hushed tone.

"Uh…no, but I got their attention, right?"

"That was rude."

"Sorry."

"…You'll help me?" Ivan blinked, having walked up to the three Adepts, staring hopefully at them.

"Yeah, of course." Isaac told him. However, the three felt something emitting from Ivan, and all knew why; Psynergy. Apparently, the boy himself didn't know what it was but he had the strange feeling he felt it emanating from the three standing before him.

"…You three have…strange powers like me, don't you?" Ivan questioned. Before they could answer, Ivan closed his eyes, his body surrounded in rings of energy as he held out his hand towards them. While the two Valeans had not a clue what was going on, Matthew did. He had never seen Karis' father perform any mind reading on them, but felt this similar to Sveta's Spirit Sense. He was going to read their minds and this fact made Matthew flinch. _He can't know me!_ He reacted quickly and built up a mental wall to block the inevitable Mind Read Psynergy.

_'Huh? Ivan's using Psynergy to read my mind?'_ Isaac thought, though it was being read by aforesaid boy.

'_Aaah! Someone's reading my mind!_' Garet cried in-thought.

'_…_' was Matthew's thought that he pulled up, and what Ivan would see when he saw it.

Thankfully, he stopped, looking at them individually. "Just as I thought…You three possess the same powers as me, but differently. 'Psynergy' as it's called, hm? That's what it is?"

"Yeah, that's what it's called." Isaac replied, smiling as much as he could. However, he felt his privacy was invaded, and it literally was.

"I see…So, your names are…?" Ivan asked, using Mind Read again.

'_I'm Isaac, Ivan. Why are you reading my mind?_'

'_The name's Garet, but really…why are you reading my mind?_'

'_…Couldn't you just ask us in person? I'm Matthew, though._'

"Oh, sorry, Matthew." The shorter blond said sadly after reading his mind. Aforesaid teen simply shrugged and nodded in response. "I should ask for your permissions first before reading your minds again."

"That would be wise." Isaac noted. "Well, Ivan, why are you here?" The purple-eyed mage sorrowfully looked down as his gaze went from the Adepts to the floor. He knew he could trust these people, as they were the same as him, albeit different. They couldn't read minds like he could, but they could tell he was. All of them wield Psynergy like he did and that was the part he was trusting in. After all, they didn't seem so bad. "I was traveling with Master Hammet, a well-known merchant from Kalay. We arrived here a couple days ago and we were about to leave when all of a sudden there was a massive earthquake." The two Valeans grimaced while Matthew raised a curious eyebrow. What earthquake? He hadn't felt any. "Large rocks, purple ones as well, erupted all over the place. In the confusion, sadly, we lost a very important item, the Shaman's Rod."

_I remember this a little bit. Uncle Ivan mentioned it to Karis, Tyrell and I sometime when we were fourteen. So that really concludes that I'm in the past for sure._ Matthew thought, hoping Ivan wasn't still activating his Mind Read. Thankfully, he wasn't; that was another close call. "The mayor also lost a family urn in the confusion as well. We believe thieves are behind this and have been looking for it ever since this morning. Master Hammet left here not long ago but ordered me to find the Shaman's Rod. I can't…leave the village until I do."

"Oh man, that's terrible…" Garet sympathized.

"Unfortunately, yes. So, you said you would help me, right?"

"Of course we will, Ivan. Right?" Isaac looked at the two others, especially at Matthew.

"Yeah, I won't back out from helping someone in need." Garet added truthfully. "We'll find the mayor's lost urn and the rod."

"I'd feel bad if I didn't help." Matthew said after, glancing in Ivan's direction, giving the mage-Adept a warm smile. "Don't worry, we'll all look together."

Ivan returned the smile and nodded to the other two. "Thank you so much. Let's begin our search outside. Perhaps we'll find some clues as to where they could be." With the smaller blond leading the way, the three Adepts followed after him all with determined faces set. Matthew, in his silence, knew that once they found the rod and went on their way, Ivan would join them. After all, he IS a Warrior of Vale, despite not being a Valean himself. He was in the Sun Saga, he was grouped in with his parents, and unfortunately, that meant he would be trying to read his mind throughout the journey. Perfect, just perfect. Matthew was cursing at himself, and praying to whichever deity existed to make sure Ivan didn't Mind Read him when he slept or was vulnerable.

_If Ivan found out I was from the future, I'll be dead meat especially since I lied to Dad._ Matt told himself, watching as the sky was turning a light orange color. Could this day get any worse?

* * *

And there's chapter two. xD The fight with the thieves is next chapter, as well as them heading for Goma Cave. Huzzoh. Ah yeah, I had to throw in some Matt-and-Isaac bonding time. I couldn't resist. More Garet in the next chapter, too. Review if you like!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for reviews, favorites (if there's any) and follows! I appreciate them. Here's chapter 3. It's un-beta'd, so pardon the mistakes I may make in this. I tried my best to fix them up before posting. I altered a little bit of the thieves-scene, and I also apologize for Matt's possible out-of-character personality and spoilers. I did warn beforehand. And hurray, the story picture's finally up. It's not mine so credit to original artist!

Enjoy~

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-x-x-x-

**Dropping In**

Chapter 3

-x-x-x-

Unfortunately for Matthew's earlier thoughts, their day _had_ grown worse. The four Adepts hadn't even found a crumb of evidence throughout their search warrant of the humble Vault. "Looks like we didn't get very far in the search…" Isaac sighed as he sat down on his borrowed bed at the inn. The small group of Adepts had looked all around the village of Vault for the remainder of the day until the sun had fully set. The older teens had walked with Ivan back to the mayor's house where he was, unfortunately forced, to stay there until he recovered the missing items. Once he was safely there, the other three made their way back to the inn and into their shared room. Garet grumpily sat on his temporary bed, frowning at the obvious news his friend spoke.

"Those thieves could be _anywhere_ with that stuff!"

"Garet… It's not simply 'stuff'. It's a family urn and a Shaman's Rod." Isaac corrected. "Hopefully by tomorrow, we'll find something. We'll have to keep trying."

"Yeah. If anything, proving Ivan's innocence is important." Garet added. Matthew, being silent while observing his past father and his best friend, had to chuckle just a little. _Ivan's not the criminal here, Garet… But, we both know you mean well._ He thought to himself, glad there wasn't a Jupiter Adept nearby to read his mind. "…I'm angry we didn't even get a _hint_ or anything though!"

Isaac nodded in agreement, or was that sympathy? "Don't worry, Garet."

"It's kind of hard not to, Isaac. Man, first this crazy adventure to stopping Felix and his little group, Jenna and Kraden being kidnapped _by_ them, and now this…" The Mars Adept sighed heavily, groaning in frustration. "I hope we find those thieves, whoever took that stuff soon so we can hurry up and catch up to Felix!" Both Venus Adepts noticed the light scowl Garet used when mentioning the other Vale citizen's name.

"…Try to sleep, Garet. Everything's going to be fine." The older blond of them assured as much as he could. Though, his friend was right. Things are piling up on them, and they're just more problems adding on the bigger issue. In fact, he prayed to the Wise One they would find the culprits or the items safely tomorrow. They really needed to catch up to Felix, as Garet said. Who knows how far they were now? The fiery redhead grumbled something else out though it fell on deaf ears as Isaac had tuned him out for a second. _Felix…_

The blond turned to his best friend who was pulling off his boots, belt, sword's sheath and gloves, setting them aside on the floor as neatly as he could—which was a rarity for Garet. He removed his large, orange tunic, only having on a simple white, short sleeve shirt underneath then proceeded to pull off his pants. He dug into his bag, pulling out a simple black shirt fit for his size and red shorts, putting those. Simple pajamas, but they'd do while on this journey. "Well, I'm going to sleep now. All this thinking is making my head hurt!" _It's almost as bad as Kraden's lessons on math and Alchemy._ He added in-thought. His bare hands ran through his wild mop of hair before settling back on his pillow, turning over so his back was facing the pair of blonds. Garet yawned a loud, stretching his stiff body a bit before relaxing.

"We'll figure this out or else I'm…raising…hell…_yaaaaawwwn_." Garet mumbled sleepily, trying to keep his brown eyes open. Really, he was tired from walking for days to get to Vault, then spending the rest of the daylight hours to search for things that were missing! Not that he didn't mind helping Ivan—he didn't, that poor kid. But being rushed into an adventure a few days back was down right _infuriating_. Nobody helped them; just a map, a large sack of gold coins, weapons, armor, and a healthy supply of food and items. Seriously, Dora was the _only_ one who even provided them with a hint of assistance. Those priests weren't any help whatsoever! It was like they were trying to get rid of them! Just thinking about them made Garet's blood boil. Those fools just thrust them into this without too much a reason for rest or direction; just flat out rushed them out. At least his family didn't do that…

But, besides all that, something good did come out of this. They made two new friends, Ivan the Wind Adept, as he could perform wind-based Psynergy as well as reading people's minds. That would be useful later on. And then, before Ivan, they stumbled upon Matthew, literally. That kid looked just like Isaac and they had discovered they were brothers! What a lucky stroke for them! Maybe Matthew would be strong as them, maybe stronger. They hadn't seen him fight yet but that empowering energy flowing out of the other Earth Adept was no mistake. With this thought engraved in his mind, Garet yawned again and finally succumbed to the calling of sleep. His heavy eyelids bested him and soon he found his mind wandering in dreamland.

Isaac lightly chuckled at his friend's remark before he drifted off to sleep. Him "raising hell", however, was nothing short of a joke. That redhead's temper naturally flew out of control if he didn't get things done or if things frustrated him beyond the point of no return.

His pale-blue eyes found his near twin sibling on his bed, stretching his arms, back, and legs for any aches or the like. He couldn't believe things happened all in one day, either; Matthew appearing, telling him of his birth, and then of their relation with one another. It felt like a dream—a dream Isaac actually didn't want to wake up from. Being in the presence of Matthew felt right; it also felt reassuring, warm and safe. Perhaps this is what happens when being around a like-Adept. You feel that security and warmth they give because it's quite identical to your own; Isaac noticed he felt this way, though if not similar, when he was around Felix when they were younger. Ah, the other mysteries of Psynergy that has yet to be solved.

Really, what were the chances of meeting your brother out in the wild, and no less heading out on a strange adventure? Now that he thought about it, Matthew was acting a little weird earlier. Where Garet and he hadn't ever mentioned about those thieves, Felix and the Sol Sanctum, _somehow_, Matthew figured it out. Yes, they were chasing after them to recover the stolen—or rather, given reluctantly—Elemental Stars and return them to Sol Sanctum. However, Matthew's knowledge of the sanctum was the startling thing. Did their father mention anything of a sanctum to him when he was younger? That would be the only reason he could see as an answer. But, what about everything else he seemingly knew?

_I'll have to think about this… Maybe ask him later._ Isaac thought to himself.

It hadn't been a minute when he felt a tickling sensation crawl up his back. The slightly older Earth Adept blinked and recalled a similar feeling whenever the Djinni called Flint would emerge from his body. Ah, that's what. Isaac relaxed his body, exhaling a sigh and the golden yellow ball of energy escaped the surface of his body and formed into the brown colored Earth elemental Djinni they all knew. Well, he was sure Matthew didn't know him. Speaking of, aforesaid Adept was curiously glancing over to see what the light was and Isaac could have sworn he froze when his eyes met the Djinni's.

"Isaac! Is it finally time to sleep?" The chirpy Djinni squeaked softly, its huge, blue eyes finding its assigned warrior.

"Yeah, it is."

"Ooh, great! All that walking made me tired!"

Isaac shook his head. "You're just like Garet…"

"Tee-hee!" The Earth Djinni giggled as much as it could then settled on the bed. Just across from it, however, it found Matthew's similar, pale-blue shaded eyes that it knew on Isaac staring at it like it multiplied like rabbits. "Hm? Who's this? …Wait, you're Matthew!" The Venus-based creature chirped, causing the teen by name to visibly flinch. There was no doubt Isaac caught onto that.

"Sorry Matt. Flint's voice can be a bit high pitched." Isaac said, chuckling. "But, I'm not sure if you—"

"…A Djinni." Matthew mumbled, secretly wondering if he could use his own Djinn here in the past, but he was sure that the only awake occupants in the room didn't hear that. Unfortunately they did, oh bother.

"…W-wait. You know about Djinn?" Isaac asked with wide eyes fixated on his brother. Matthew barely stole a glance at him and nodded, fearful of the bombarding questions that would soon come after. Instead of doing what Matthew was dreading, Isaac smiled. Wow, his little brother was quite knowledgeable. He knew about Djinn before they knew them, well, it seemed that way. But that was another strange thing; how did he? Djinn weren't ever around until the eruption of Mt. Aleph, which was apparently three years ago. Perhaps he encountered a few while journeying away from his homeland. Yes, that's the only other explanation to this oddity. Isaac glanced over to his lookalike sibling and couldn't help but chuckle again. Matthew was still a mystery he needed to solve.

Noticing someone was looking at him, Matthew looked up from where he had been so dutifully staring at—the floor—and found his past father nearly beaming at him. What was so exciting now? "I-Isaac?" He tried, and nearly stammered. Man, it was going to take a while to get used to that.

"Hm, yes?"

Now onto the topic at hand, the thoughts that he'd been piling up in his mind the moment they left Ivan's company. Seriously, being around a Wind Adept when trying to plot your way out of an unfamiliar, yet familiar, time period and hoping to not destroy the future's timeline from whence you came was never in his cup of tea. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Ivan was hanging around him more than he was to his father and Garet when they were together for that short amount of time. Of course, Matthew had a mental wall up every time Ivan imposed a question upon him—one question asking of his relation to Isaac, that wasn't anything new, really—and that he felt something familiar about him. Perfect in all its glory.

_Okay…The situation: I've been warped thirty years into the past, just at the point my father and Garet were chasing after those villains. The problem: Figuring out how the hell I'm going to get out of this time period _alive _without Dad and the others knowing I'm from the future. I'll need a map… I can't stay with them any longer, and it's only been half a day at most._

"Matthew?"

_Oh right, I started a small conversation with Dad. I know I told them I'd help them look for the missing urn and Ivan's rod—well, not his rod yet. But, I honestly need a map, no matter what Dad of this time says. I suppose after we help Ivan… and this will be so unlike me, but I'll have to slip out of their radar. Probably the evening we solve this mystery…_ "Sorry, I zoned out." Matthew partially lied—seriously, what's up with all these dang lies he's using?—and locked gazes with Isaac. "I just wanted to say that I'm glad I met you, and that…I'm very, truly sorry."

Nobody missed the fact Isaac's cheeks tinted a light shade of pink, even in their dimly lit room. "Ah… I'm glad we met too, Matthew. Really. After all the bad news lately, it's good to have something good in a small outcome of it all." The other Adept of Earth replied. "But, why are you apologizing?"

Matthew lowered his head and sighed. _I'm sorry that I lied to you and that I'm going to leave you. I'm probably no better than those people who had thrown you and Garet into this journey._ He silently answered, though more to himself. "…I don't know. I suppose I should. But, we should be getting some sleep now. We've a long way ahead of us, don't we?"

Brushing aside his brother's apology, Isaac smiled again. "Yeah, we do. Oh here," he parted ways with an extra set of simple white and blue colored shirt and soft, cotton pants, obviously pajamas, wrapped in fine wire like a package. Matthew looked up to him when he was tossed the wire-wrapped 'gift', catching it and stared at Isaac. "When you and Garet kept searching, I told Ivan you may not have any, so we purchased some for you." The older blond hurried out of his normal wear to slip on his own pajamas, a simple light orange shirt and black capris. "Anyway, I'll be going to sleep too. Good night, Matthew."

Watching Isaac and apparently Flint disappear under the bed sheets, Matthew closed his eyes and bowed his head, sighing deeply. "Good night." He whispered and in his thoughts, sadly added, _Dad._

-x-x-x-

"What do you mean you don't know?" A thirty-seven year old man, well going on thirty-eight soon, asked. He stood at a moderately towering six feet and seven inches, had short, still spiked blond hair that had lost its golden luster since his youth and a well shaven but visible beard. His narrowed pale-blue eyes glared at the physician that was now hovering over a boy's body, who shared that same shade, it not a tad darker, than his own hair. The man in a white office coat, having dark, short hair and brownish-red eyes had scanned the younger blond in vain attempt, as he called it.

"I'm sorry sir… Your son is in a state of…Oh I can't say it…" The physician mumbled the last part softly. Oh, if his inkling of suspicion were to come out without a theory proving this, well, things would turn ugly.

"What? What are you talking about? If it is important, then tell me!"

The physician glanced towards the other man, sighing. "I can't confirm it, but it appears your son is in a type of coma."

"…Why?" This came to him as a shock, especially for this father. No, what could have caused his son to fall into this?

"Why? I am not so sure. But, there has been a Psynergy Seal placed on him as well as a Psy Drain. His ability with the alignment of earth has been depleted and now his body cannot function without it. I'm very sure you Adepts know this well enough." The dark-haired male explained, giving the other something to ponder on for taste. "Not only this, but it seems his body internally was tampered with. How I've sensed it with my own power, it appears as if his very soul left his body and—" He didn't finish as he was cut off by the other man's growl.

"What the hell happened? That's all I want to know. He was perfectly fine when he came home!"

"…Sir… I advise you to focus on removing the Psynergy Seal on your son's body and then allowing his body to absorb a plenty amount of like-elemental Psynergy healing spells. His body should replenish of its depletion." The physician deduced professionally while getting his things together. "Please send for me if there are any drastic changes. I apologize I cannot do any more than what I have. Other than what I've stated, your son is actually all right. Now then, I must be going." The man bowed politely as he made his way to the front door of the cabin. When the man was gone, the bearded male sighed deeply.

"Isaac…" Another's voice called to him, coming into the room. He had dark red hair, spiking upward like a broom's and had a matching, growing mustache. "Still nothing on his condition?"

"No, Garet." The one called Isaac responded, keeping careful eye on the boy in front of him, lying on the sofa in their cabin. It appeared as if there weren't any signs of immediate life present in him, but the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest indicated and betrayed that fact he was still in the realm of the living, and not dead. That was always a good sign. The only thing was that they couldn't _wake_ him up from his 'coma'. "This is terrible…Had I known there was a Psynergy Vortex near the cabin…"

"It's not your fault, Isaac. We both hadn't known about it." Garet assured him, or tried. "Besides, you think this was that vortex that caused this?"

"The Psynergy Vortex drains the Psynergy of living things, Garet. We've researched this since we've established this very cabin here on the Goma Plateau ten years ago." Isaac said, looking grimly out the nearest window. "We Adepts are basically composed of the elements of Alchemy—which is the mother source of our Psynergy. We'd be fueling it with our own lives. The vortices absorb the elements and we Adepts are victims of its dangers _because_ we can manipulate them at will. One reason we steer clear of them."

"I know, Isaac. We've studied them together along with Kraden." Garet told his childhood friend, sighing. "I have a feeling you'll be trying to use Revive on him, so I sent Karis and Tyrell to Patcher's to purchase a load of Psy Crystals for you. You'll need them." The blond lightly smiled at his best friend, thankful he planned ahead. Isaac stared at the near lifeless form of his son, noticing his skin complexion had grown a little paler since the physician left. He frowned; that apparently didn't seem like it _should_ have happened. Was his son also sick? Regardless, Garet was right. He was going to use the energy of Revive to heal his son, or rather, call back his soul to the realm of the living—wherever it may be—once they removed the seal. It had to be within his body still.

Once Karis and Tyrell return, they would be busy. _Very_ busy.

-x-x-x-

"This map of Weyard is one hundred and thirty coins, and this traveler's pack is two hundred and sixteen coins," the item shop keeper told an early riser—Matthew—who had graciously awakened before the sun rose. The teen had got up earlier than he normally would, quietly bathed and redressed into his clothes before heading out of the inn room. He was surprised Isaac hadn't woken up, Flint as well. That Djinni would spot him like a sheep within the wolf pack, but that was the Flint of the future—his future. Sighing to himself, Matthew brought the exact amount to pay for his own map, which was wrapped up, placed in a cylinder container and along with the dark auburn pack he purchased, they were given to him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir." The young woman said with a low bow. "Please come by again!"

_Oh I will, as soon as I get back home._ He mentally noted. With a smile, he left the item shop, taking a deep breath of the fresh, crisp morning air. The sun hadn't risen just yet, but there were some people out to begin their chores of the day. The soldiers standing guard outside the village gates—both on the north and southern exits—exchanged shifts, new ones replacing the old ones as they went to get some rest. Matthew adjusted his new traveling pack over his left shoulder while he walked over to a convenient tree near the weapons shop, where he had purchased a different sword, a long sword, for himself, earlier. He opted out on using his main weapon for the time being. Leaning against the tree bark, he opened the container with the map, unraveled it and gaped.

_Oh sh—!_ Matthew almost swore to himself, _Weyard in the past is…is…nothing like the one I know! Wait, that was _stupid_. Of course it wouldn't be._ He looked over the map again, eyes roving over the locations, the geographical details, outlined routes, everything. There were a few places he knew that he remembered, like Imil, where his friend Rief, his sister Nowell and their mother, his dad's friend, Mia, lived. When his eyes came across Bilibin, he nearly laughed. "I'd never expect a kingdom of its caliber from my time to have been a homely little village, ha-ha." He chuckled, still breath taken though. The utter thrill of exploring Weyard of thirty years was…it just set his heart on high spirits. Everything was so brand new to his eyes; it was like going on another adventure in a distant but familiar world.

As much as he wanted to get back into his time period, Matthew couldn't pass up on this once in a life time opportunity to explore the past Weyard. "Well, there's no rule saying I can't have fun while looking for a way back…" He mumbled to himself, continuing to scan the map, noting places down in his memory. The spiky blond took out a writing pen as his eyes never left the map's surface, drawing a circle around the places he would check out first, hoping they'd have some sort of clue for his predicament. He allowed a sigh to escape his mouth. "How the hell can I prove I _am_ from the future anyway? And, who would really believe me? Seriously, time traveling? It's so unheard of—"

"Not entirely."

Matthew jumped in his spot and frantically turned around each way to try and find the source of the voice. In his mad panic, Matthew spun to the left and nearly bumped into—no, scratch that, he _did_ bump into—a tall man, just about his dad's height, a couple inches taller than him though. The man was wearing a strange, dark green shirt with a silver hem down the center, and a faded black coat with elbow length sleeves, which cascaded until it stopped at his thighs. The edges of it were chipped away, as if it had been worn for wear for a long time. His arms were adorned in dark auburn-brown full gloves, faded as they were but still in decent shape. His pants were nearly black in color and his boots matched his gloves. A sword's sheath was strapped to his left hip and he kept his right hand upon its hilt dutifully. A strange, intricate mask was on his face, Matthew could tell, and he had dark brown hair, the bangs falling over his face—well the mask on his face—and fell down over his ears. The rest of his hair was abruptly cut off, possibly with a dagger or knife, and small portions of the top cow-licked a little. Its jagged edges were noticeable.

But, not just the appearance of this man was what caught Matthew off guard. His voice, regardless if it was being altered by the mask's influence, and that _aura_ that emanated from him. It was…all too familiar!

"…Who…Who are you?" the teenager asked, stammering in the process, eyes wide with shuddering fear. "Did…did you hear all of that?"

The man seemingly sighed from behind the mask, ignoring the first question. "No. I only heard you say that time travel was unheard of." He answered, noticing Matthew relax just a bit—out of relief most likely. "While it's not unheard of, it's rather uncommon. The topic has been brought up several times; however, the method to achieve that has yet to be discovered." He looked away—or turned his head away—and focused on something else as he continued. "What are you trying to accomplish by time traveling anyway?"

Matthew slightly frowned, remaining rooted. This guy, no matter how familiar he sounded, wasn't to be trusted with sensitive information such as the real reason why he needed to figure out how to time travel. Heck, he can't even trust his past father with that information! Why did he seem so interested in a kid's curiosity? Ah well. "…I'm just curious, that's all." The Earth Adept replied, not entirely a lie. In all truth, if he figured out how to get back to his time, he could travel back and forth between then and now easily. Well, it was a large hope of his. "I mean, wouldn't it be pretty cool to see what the world is like in maybe, I don't know, thirty years in the future?"

If Matthew was some fool, he would have ignored the response the masked man gave. But no, he saw it clearly. The guy clearly _flinched_. It was no joke, no turn of play, no charade. Matthew instantly read him off as suspicious to this. Deciding to egg on the brunet swordsman—he guessed—more, the Venus-element Adept spoke. "So, thirty years…" He said as casually and honestly as he could sound, mocking curiosity as his eyes fell on the man again. "I wonder what it'll be like." He playfully tapped his chin and 'thought'. "Hopefully nothing that has to do with the continents shifting or like new races appearing. That'd be pretty neat though." Again, the man visibly shuddered or close to shuddering as he could get, when the spiky blond spoke about the 'future'.

"…Perhaps." The man finally responded, though his tone betrayed his own knowledge. "We won't know until we've lived it. And, as long as Alchemy remains sealed, the world shall wither…"

"Wait, huh?" Now _that_ was new. Alchemy was sealed? Oh wait, that was in the Sun Saga, too. The lighthouses had to be lit in order for Alchemy to be released. And if he remembered correctly, that was entirely the _opposite_ of what his father and Garet were sent out to do. This wasn't making much sense now, regardless of the books he read as a child. The Wise One wanted them to retrieve the Elemental Stars to return to Sol Sanctum. The full reason _why_ was never, truly explained. Was it possible that some, important information was purposefully left out? Did the Warriors of Vale leave that tidbit out of the books? If that was the case, then why would they?

_This isn't making sense to me anymore._ Matthew pondered. _If the Wise One sent them to return the Elemental Stars to Sol Sanctum, then they would haven't released Alchemy into the world?_ "Hey what does that me—" The blond looked up to find that the stranger was gone! What the hell! "Damn it. I had a question for him." He sighed, leaning against the tree again and partially zoned out. "As much as I remember, nobody knew what Alchemy was except a _very_ select few. Well, at least, not here in the Angora continent for that matter. Everyone else was ignorant of the world's peril, or if they noticed, there was no way of knowing about the Lighthouses… Unless…" _I'll have to ponder on this some more, obviously. Huh, there's more to this than I thought. Dad, you and everyone have a strange past._

Deciding to ponder this more, Matthew sat down, still leaned against the tree. He rolled up his map of Weyard, depositing it into his travel pack and tried to relax. _All right let's see…_ He closed his eyes and…felt something pull at his heart. No, it wasn't really his heart, but it was more like tugging at his…soul? What? That was unusual. The next thing Matthew knew, his body felt unresponsive, as if whatever he felt was pulling his spirit away was gaining power.

_What's…going on? Why does it feel I'm leaving my body? No, that can't be right. Something's calling it away, then? Ugh, what _is_ this?! _

-x-x-x-

"Where _is_ he!?" Isaac half shouted as he and Garet left the inn approximately three hours later when the sun was actually up. The entire town of Vault was awake in the sense that all of its citizens were up and about. Of course, waking up to find that your sibling wasn't in his spot on the bed had to be as nerve-wrecking as a—well, nothing could compare to the level of nerves that were itching up inside Isaac. He was a mad panic when he got up, he was a mad panic when he bathed and dressed, and as far as Garet knew, he was _still_ mad panicking as we speak. Ivan had been outside the mayor's house waiting when they came by to pick him up so they could resume their search, but seeing Isaac in his distress, it worried them.

"I can't believe he just…!"

"Isaac, calm down. I'm sure he's still here." Garet tried, but instantly backed off when his best friend whipped around so fast it would have made a tornado a laughing stock. His pale-blue eyes locked sternly with the brown ones of the Fire Adept's, which made aforementioned redhead shudder. Wow, he'd never seen his friend like this except when Jenna went missing a couple years back. That ended up in a small prank pulled by Felix and himself. "Someone had said they saw someone like him heading to the item shop, so let's go check there." Ivan suggested, putting a hand on the Earth Adept's shoulder for comfort.

"Yeah…I'm sorry. That was really stupid of me to get like that." The older blond admitted. "Very…out of character, I'll admit."

"That's okay. I'd be like that if one of my siblings just up and left too." Garet sympathized. After all, he did have two sisters and a brother for himself back in Vale.

As the three Adepts were heading for the Item Shop, an eerily familiar being was exiting out of the Weapons Shop. Isaac stopped, Ivan blinked and Garet growled angrily. "FELIX!" He shouted, noticing the mask on the man's face, recognizing it almost. The brown haired masked man from before stopped just shortly as the name was shouted, not making taking another inch forward. "Yeah, you stop right there, traitor!" Garet hollered again, running up to man. It didn't take long for Isaac to notice something was off about this guy though. Yeah, he bore a striking resemblance to their friend Felix, with that creepy mask and the hairstyle, and the way he carried his sword. But, the man's hair was too short to be Felix, and the fact he wasn't wearing a cape or with those other two people didn't go by unnoticed. Now that he had noticed, Jenna wasn't with him and neither was Kraden!

Realizing this, Isaac tried to intervene. "Wait, Garet! I don't think he's—!"

"Take _this_ traitor!" The hotheaded Fire Adept roared as he launched a punch for the tall man that was supposedly his friend. The masked person easily dodged the oncoming punch, whipping around to catch it firmly in his hands. Growling, Garet launched his other fist towards his face, but that was stopped by the man's other hand. They stayed in a lockdown of glaring stares—the Fire Adept could barely make out the other man's dark colored eyes from behind the mask, but he knew he was glaring back. "Y-you! How could you let them take Jenna and Kraden!? Y-you traitor you! I can't believe you!" Garet tried to wrestle his hands free, the brunet with the mask silently watching his movements and prevented him from doing so. "Grr! W-when I get my hands free, I'm going to pound you so flat into the ground, you'll look like a pancake!"

"Garet! Stop! That's not Felix!" Isaac shouted as he ran up to them with Ivan, both blonds trying to separate the confrontation between them. After a minute of wrangling them both apart, Isaac stared at his angered friend. "That's not him."

"Yes it has to be! That mask and that hair! I know it all too well!" Garet growled under his breath, his thick brows furrowing into a V-shape on his face. "He wore it when we were—!"

"…I know but it can't be him. Jenna and the others aren't with him."

"It could be a trap!"

"It could but…"

"He is gone." Ivan spoke up as the two friends looked up. The purple-eyed mage was right; that strange guy had mysteriously given them the slip! This infuriated Garet even more of course. "He turned to leave after you two started talking." Where the heck did he go? Before the two Valeans had a chance to say anything else, the young Wind Adept pointed ahead, "Look who's over there." Isaac and Garet looked into the pointed direction Ivan had his index finger on and gasped.

Isaac was the first to open his mouth. "Matthew!"

Sitting underneath a tree, in a meditative position was the missing teen whom they had been searching for. However, he seemed to be dead to the world, unresponsive for whatever means. Did he fall asleep there? It didn't matter because the trio ran over there as quickly as they could. "Matt! Hey!" Garet shouted—still not forgetting that Felix-guy-whoever-he-was from earlier—kneeling down to the other Earth Adept's level, attempting to shake the teenager from whatever garnered his attention in his steady focus. When nothing came, not even a grunt nor a complaining whine—_anything_—the other three grew concerned, Isaac more than the other two.

"Matthew! Wake up!" Isaac called to him, also shaking him awake, or tried to.

Nothing.

"Perhaps he is just in a deep sleep." Ivan said calmly as possible, but he knew that wouldn't last long. He was growing over concerned for his new friend's health.

"Ivan."

"Yes, Isaac?"

"I want you to read his mind."

That came out of nowhere. "W-why for, Isaac? I thought we agreed that I'd only read minds when permission was given."

"…If he's just asleep, then you'll only read and see what he's dreaming about, right?" Isaac replied, his tone betraying that worry of his. Something just wasn't right here…

After a brief moment, Ivan nodded in understanding and knelt down to the brother of Isaac, putting his hand on Matthew's forehead. Rings of energy lit up around his body and continued that way as he closed his eyes to focus on his Psynergy to work through the mind of the Earth Adept. Ivan cringed however, as a strange, golden, light seemed to respond to his Psynergy, flooding through his mind and eventually, around his body. The Wind Adept flinched back with a sharpened cry, startling both Isaac and Garet. As soon as he did, Matthew's eyes fluttered open, spotting the worried forms of his friends—and brother.

Instead of having a face that read "what's wrong" on Matthew's face, he stared deadpanned in deep worry at Ivan. Ivan's amethyst eyes only stared back in unidentified horror traced on his expression. Both dared not to say another word in fear of what one saw and what the other hoped the other didn't see yet. _I let my guard down…somehow. Ivan…tried reading my mind…Crap, did he see it?!_ Were Matthew's only thoughts now as they wildly tried to calm down only to burst back into more panic than ever.

_What was that…? What did I see? What was that…power coming from?_ Ivan thought, sweat beading down his face.

"Um… What just?" Garet attempted to start.

"Oh, sorry…" Matthew finally realized what was going on and tried to relax, but knowing the potential of your secret was found out by the one person you were trying to avoid was horribly mortifying. "I-Ivan, are you okay?"

The Jupiter Adept slowly nodded, trying to recover his breath in the process. "Y…yes. Just stunned is all."

"Yeah, what happened there?" Garet inquired. "That was just really weird."

All four of them rose slowly to their feet, all confused in one way or another. Except Matthew; while he hid his true emotion under a veil of masking confusion, he was more so worried of what Ivan's Psynergy picked up on while he was in his state of…unconsciousness. This reminded him of that strangeness earlier, too. Why'd he suddenly conk out like that? Rather, something was pulling him into a weird void or something like that. It also felt as if someone had some stray keys and was trying to unlock a bolted door with several locks on it. It was weird, to say the least. But when he felt Ivan attempt to probe his mind with Mind Read, that's when he 'jerked' himself back into place and 'retook' control over his consciousness. Matthew hoped that he blocked Ivan out. But, with that look on the young mage Adept, it felt like he'd have some looming questions as soon as his mind adjusted to it.

Oh bother.

"Ah, I-I'm not entirely sure what it was…" Ivan partially lied. He honestly didn't want them to know something he knew—whatever that may be. He couldn't be sure of it just yet. Perhaps once this whole fiasco is over with, he'd examine it properly. That odd, strange feeling he got from Matthew and then what he saw for that short, brief moment when peering into his mind there had to be some sort of connection to the two. It wasn't coincidence that you feel you know someone and then _that_ shows up. "I suppose when I have it…figured out I'll share." Ivan finished. Isaac and Garet seemed satisfied with the answer and both locked eyes on Matthew. Knowing what they were going to say, the guilty blond sighed.

"I'm sorry I caused you any worry. I just got up early. You were both still asleep, so I didn't want to wake you up. I bought a pack for myself, just in case." Matthew said, pointing to his newly acquired item to indicate the truth of his words—well, partial truth, but they didn't need to know that. Hopefully, Ivan didn't know that either.

"…All right, but promise you won't do that again. You had me scared to death." Isaac said after, a small frown etched on his face. Closing his eyes and knowing this was going to hurt him later on in the long run, Matt nodded.

"…I promise."

Garet grinned a little. "Well, now that's over. I say we go check out the village some more until we run into some clues!"

"Right," Ivan agreed, as did the other two blonds. His thoughts will have to wait until later.

-x-x-x-

It was well past noontime when the four Adepts settled down beside a different tree to rest. Different people were allowed into the town, but none were allowed to exit. Possibly due to the fact that those sneaky—infuriating, as Garet labeled them comically—thieves hadn't been found yet. The sun was beating down normally on Weyard, though the four friends were underneath the tree for shading protection. "Ah man, we'll never find them at this rate. They could be _anywhere_ but here by now!" Garet fired up his complaints again. "Ugh, this sucks!"

Isaac shook his head. "I don't think so," he started. "It was quite recent when it happened, so they should be here still."

"Have we Mind Read everyone, though?" Matthew asked, trying to keep the topic on the thieves, for their sakes.

"We have," Ivan spoke up next. "Nothing out of the ordinary unless you want to count that the townspeople are still upset over that earthquake yesterday."

"BOGUS." Garet rumbled in complaint again. "If I even come across those thieves I'll—!"

Just as Garet blatantly expressed his new focus of rage, never mind the man that "seemed" like Felix, three people with long, black hair, wearing unusual outfits—well they appeared unusual since the entire population of Vault's citizens _weren't_ wearing—and suspiciously headed for the Inn. Now, what were they up to? Come to think of it, they hadn't seen those three before. Newcomers to the village, perhaps? Only one way to find out! "Did anyone else just see three people walk by or was that just me?" Isaac asked his small group of friends.

"No, you're not the only one. I saw them too. They went towards the Inn." Ivan voiced his reply.

"They looked really suspicious to me!" Garet chimed in next. "We should go follow them!"

"Hmm…" Matthew pondered, though they all agreed to Garet's idea. They walked on over to the Inn, and as Isaac, Garet and Matthew headed inside, Ivan spotted something quite unusual. Why was a ladder suddenly just outside the Inn now? And did it lead to an attic of sorts? Hm, that's odd, given that nobody was standing outside there. Perhaps he'll mention it to the others soon. As the young Adept headed inside, Isaac was making conversation with the Innkeeper.

"Ah, yes, those three just checked in today," the Innkeeper provided, looking at the four boys. "You said you needed to speak with them?"

"Yes. We're helping the Mayor and Ivan here with missing item case." Isaac replied, nodding to the youngest Adept in their group.

"I see then," The bearded man said, giving the room number to the oldest blond Adept—really, since Matthew was just a shy year younger than his past father and Ivan was just around fourteen. Nodding thanks, the other three followed the de facto leader of their group up the stairs again and proceeded to the room two doors down from their own. "Shh…" Isaac said quietly as they all leaned against the door to listen in.

"I'm telling you, we're never going to get out of this village with those guards there." One voice said, having a rather adolescent, male voice.

"Not with all the stuff we have…" a second chipped in sadly, also sounding male around the same age as the first.

"This blows! I guess we're stuck here!" a third voice rambled angrily. "I knew we should have taken off when that Hammet guy was leaving!" The four Adepts outside the door exchanged looks and silent gasps with one another, still listening in.

"…This sucks." The first voice said again with a sigh.

The four backed off from the door quietly, walking back down the hall, though stayed close by. "What do you think they're talking about in there?" The only redhead inquired upon his friends.

"It most likely has something to do with Master Hammet, though." Ivan added, frowning. "They were saying something about leaving when he did, which was yesterday around noon."

"Well, then let's confront them about it. Maybe we can get Ivan to Mind Read them." Isaac concluded, the others agreeing. Gathering themselves up again, the quad of friends headed back to the door and the first Earth Adept knocked on it. The three in the room apparently 'froze' and gasped silently as much as they could, shuffling about until they seemed situated. The four Adepts gave each other suspicious glances, though they were aimed at the three inside the rented room. When the door never opened, nor had anyone asked who was at the door, they—as in Garet—decided to invite themselves in, quite rudely in the aforesaid Fire Adept's way.

The three black-haired young men were standing by the window, chatting secretly and barely glanced up to notice the intruders. Glaring at them for rudely entering uninvited, one of them spoke up. "And just what do you kids want?"

The apparent second thief pointedly glanced at the youngest Adept in the other's midst. "Hey wait… It looks like that weird kid is with them." The four Adepts blinked but had a feeling who they really meant; Ivan. "I can't stand him. Don't let him near me!" The third one added fearfully. When the four stepped forward, the three black-haired males backed off a distance. Well, _that's_ awfully peculiar.

"Huh, they're acting pretty suspicious…" Matthew started.

"Something's not right…" Ivan added as well, narrowing his violet colored eyes at all three of them, too.

Garet blinked. "Wait, if they're running off, then we can't get Ivan to Mind Read them, huh?"

"Yeah, that's right, we can't." Isaac answered, frowning. Garet crossed his arms and pondered a bit.

"Well, isn't there a way we can like stop them from running off? Like, a way we can catch them?"

After the moment of Garet's words, Ivan's brain cranked up an idea. "That's a good idea, Garet." The Jupiter mage began, now whispering to the other three. "If you, Isaac and Matthew can corner one of them, I can Mind Read him."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." The de facto leader of them said as he went over the small plan in his thoughts. "Actually, it just might work."

Ivan nodded, still in whisper. "Yes, I believe it will. Let's give it a try."

"Okay then." Garet smiled. "Isaac, you take the lead."

"Hey, what are those kids whispering about over there?" The four heard one of the dark-haired strangers ask his other two cohorts. When they voiced their answers is when Garet, Isaac and Matthew began to quietly move in on them. However, their quiet footwork and movements didn't go by unnoticed; the other three looked up and saw three of them advancing towards them! "Uh-oh, here they come! One-on-one! Do whatever it takes to get away from them like before! Scram!" The third male shouted to his two companions. They darted in different directions frantically, Garet going after one, Isaac with the second and Matthew with the last.

The room was turned into a wild goose chase, with Ivan blocking the door in case they tried escaping.

"I got one!" Garet beamed brightly, grinning from ear to ear. He had the man bound from behind, holding him in the air in a bear hug.

"Lemme go!" The black-haired man, the first one that had spoken before, yelled in panic.

"I…got the second one!" Matthew chirped after, having the man in a tight headlock.

"Ugh!"

"Well, well, I got the last one then." Isaac said, smirking as he also had the last one bound from behind, but rather than Garet's method, he simply held the man's wrists. Ivan nodded graciously at the good work of his friends, directing them to hold them. "Good. This won't take long so keep them held tight as possible." The young Adept added as he stepped towards the one Garet bound first.

"Aaagh! D-don't come any closer!" The suspicious man #1 (that's what they're going to be dubbed now, courtesy of Garet) bellowed as Ivan approached. The rings of Psynergy enveloped him as he concentrated, oblivious to the suspects but not to their captors.

"Wh-what is this!?" The first gawked.

"He closed his eyes! What's he doing!?" Suspicious man #2 gaped.

Ivan nodded after he finished and proceeded to the second one bound by Matthew, then lastly for the third held back by Isaac. They attempted to squirm free, but that proved futile. Ivan stepped back and the Adepts released their hostages. "Agh! What in the world just happened?" Suspicious man #3 wondered.

"N-no idea, but that was _weird_." Suspicious man #2 added, paling.

"…Let's get out of here." Suspicious man #1 said to his companions. They complied and hurried out, not bothering to look back to see if they were being pursued.

"What'd you learn, Ivan?" Isaac asked the young Adept once they gathered together in their small circle. From the expression of Ivan's face, one could say he learned quite a lot from them. In fact, his face appeared to be twisted from anger.

"They're the ones." Ivan reported. "They took other things besides the urn and the Rod, too. They've hidden it somewhere in the Inn, though. It looked like an attic." He concluded and tapped his chin. "And, I think I know where we can start looking. Come on." The young mage hurried out the room with his friends filing out after him in the same, quick pace he set. They somewhat thundered down the stairs, herding outside like lost sheep. Once being outside again, Ivan rounded them upon the ladder he had seen earlier.

"This," he began, "I saw this when we were coming here earlier. This ladder most likely leads to an attic or something like that above the Inn."

"Huh, that's awfully convenient. At least we won't have to search the entire Inn!" Garet grinned in triumph. They were finally getting somewhere!

"Okay. It's pretty much a straight path from here. I bet everything they've stolen is up there." Isaac concluded. "Let's go. There's no time to waste." Isaac grabbed one bar of the ladder and began climbing, followed by Garet and Ivan. However, the young blond paused when he noticed Matthew staring off into space.

"Matt?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry. Ivan. I just thought I saw something…" _Man, I got distracted. I really shouldn't do that._ Matthew replied then self scolded himself in-thought. He grabbed onto the ladder and followed up behind Ivan, noticing his 'brother' and Garet hurrying through a conveniently opened door to the right—after having climbed to the top. "Hey! Nobody's up here!" Garet huffed irritably. Ah, more Garet complaints.

"There's probably something up ahead," Isaac deduced, pointing to the open door across from them. He made sure Ivan and Matthew were with them—especially Matthew—and proceeded forward-

-only to be grabbed by his scarf's length and forced back abruptly! "M-Matt!? Why'd you do that for?" Garet asked, shocked. Isaac turned around to see his scarf released by his brother, wide-eyed. "Why'd you stop Isaac?"

"Unless you want him to fall into that pit that's right there…" Matthew pointed out firmly, a deep, straight frown etched on his face, "then yeah, let's allow him to go on ahead." His pale-blue eyes found Isaac's, sighing deeply. "Sorry for that, but that was close. We could have lost you…" _Or worse, _I _would have lost you._

"Oh, t-thanks, Matt." Isaac praised gratefully, smiling a little. His brother returned the gesture and carefully, all four of them leapt over the strange pit, one by one. When they were over, they went through another entrance, however there were boxes blocking the way to the other side!

"Ah man, more obstacles!" Garet groaned in, yup you guessed right, more complaints.

"We can move them." Isaac said proudly. "Garet, would you like to do the honors?" The redhead by name nodded, smiling proudly. He had been personally training for this!

"Of course, stand back!" He gestured. They really didn't need to, but they gave him as much elbow room as possible. Summoning up his Psynergy, Garet held out his hands, the energy focused on the point of his palms and fingertips, drawing in the robust strength he garnered. With his psychic signal on the stacked crates, he carefully pushed them aside to the left with his mind's power. Once that was done successfully and the path was clear, Garet released the Psynergy and grinned. "There! All done, Garet-style of course!" He chirped proudly.

"Good work, Garet." Matthew smiled. However, before they even took a step forward Ivan beckoned them with the worry call of his voice.

"Look, someone's tied up over here!" Ivan pointed out to their right. Taking immediate notice, they worked their way to untying the poor man out of the thick rope that bound him up a smidgeon. "Are you all right? What happened?" The young mage Adept asked after the man was freed, carefully helping him up.

"Unn…Yeah." The man moaned in response, wincing as he tried to stretch his limbs. "I came into this loft while I was fixing the roof… But I found I couldn't get all the way to the back of the loft…

So I was looking into it when _WHAM_!" He made hand gestures a little as the Adepts listened to his story. "Someone whacked me in the head from behind! When I came to, I was all tied up. And then, that's when you four came along."

"I wonder who could have done this." Isaac mused to himself quietly, silently raging. He despised it when others took advantage of another, such as knocking someone out from behind like a coward. When the man, who they recognized to be the man that greeted them into the village yesterday, looked around, something appeared to be out of place. "Hey, I don't remember those boxes being there." He pointed to the crates neatly stacked together that had been recently pushed aside by Garet—though he hadn't known. The man went on ahead into the loft, followed by the four Adepts curiously.

The next room was pretty much bigger than the first two rooms they passed. There was a lot of crates stacked virtually everywhere. This didn't go by unnoticed by the Vault-native. "Hey, I don't remember _these_ crates here, either. In fact, most of these I don't ever recall being here at all."

"Maybe all the stolen goods from the town are in these crates." Ivan deduced.

"Let's look around. Maybe we'll find what we're looking for in here." Isaac suggested. Everyone agreed and began splitting up. Garet walked towards the front of the crates stacked horizontally in front of them, Isaac behind the crates Garet was looking through, Ivan heading around the crates, the man from earlier checked the crates that were off to the leftmost corner of the loft and Matthew to the furthest right.

_Where could it be?_ Ivan asked quietly, though only to himself as he carefully opened each crate, rummaging through them, one by one. _I know it has to be here, somewhere. Please, please let it be._

"Hey, I found something!" Garet's voice announced, drawing in attention. Everyone looked up momentarily to see what caught the redhead's attention. "It looks like a…um…" He wondered, holding it up victoriously.

"Hey, that's the Mayor's family urn!" The brown-haired man said, gasping.

"That appears to be not all they took," Isaac added in. "This stuff here looks like it belongs inside a sanctum."

"I remember the chief priest there complaining about some of his items being taken as well. Those thieving curs!" He frowned when Isaac pointed out the crate's items inside. "I wonder what else they've stolen?"

Finding nothing interesting inside the crates he was searching through, Matthew paced towards Ivan, who resumed his cautious search of the Rod, and knelt down next to an unopened crate. "Let me help you, Ivan."

"Oh… Matthew. Thank you." The youngest blond sighed gratefully as he opened another crate. "I really hope we find it soon."

"I hope so, too." Matthew concluded, looking through the box he opened. Once he lifted its lid, he nearly gaped. It was a book, obviously, but its hard cover was an ethereal blue color, and the pages felt like silk—since when did…? _No way. How'd I lose this?_ Matthew cringed in-thought. It was the Glyph Book! How had he lost it? No, was it perhaps stolen from him when he was unconscious yesterday? _I don't have time to ponder this. I don't even remember losing it. I have to stop being so careless._ He scolded himself, taking the book out of the crate and opening it to its first page. Yup, it was definitely his, or rather; it belonged to his time period—sort of. _I'm almost surprised they didn't take Sol Blade—or perhaps they couldn't because it's locked in a special way._ Oh well, score for him that way. He was also glad his wallet wasn't stolen. That would have been just as terrible.

Matthew quickly stashed his lost book into his bag and glanced over his shoulder to see what Ivan was up to. The Jupiter mage was in the process of opening another crate's lid. The future-swordsman looked over, hoping with his gut this was the Rod. Ivan, deep down, also was hoping this was it, too. They both held their breath as the lid slowly rose. Inside was a brown staff, which curved intricately at the top. It almost looked like a lollipop, just without the sugar and colors, from a distance. But, there was some form of power in the Rod that even Matthew could feel. "…Is that it, Ivan?"

"Y-yes, it is. This is it. Master Hammet's Rod." The boy by name replied slowly, taking the wooden-like staff from inside its captivity. "I finally found it."

"Looks like we've been found out!"

A familiar voice spooked them all into turning around to see the three black-haired men standing before the only way out of the loft. The four Adepts narrowed their eyes at the now-apparent thieves. "You're pretty persistent for one of Hammet's whelps, kid!" They filed towards the thieves, glaring.

"Why are you working so hard for Hammet? What's it to you?" Thief - Garet internally complained and named them after numbers - #1 asked, looking at Ivan.

"I have no reason to tell you why." The boy replied simply.

"Hmph! Well, anyway, if you haven't gotten the latest memo yet, Hammet's already been caught by a worse bunch of thieves than us!" Now this was news to their ears. The four Adepts including the other man exchanged worried looks before returning their attention on the thieves.

"What do you mean?!" Ivan demanded bluntly, something that may have gone out of character, but he wasn't caring at the moment. Master Hammet was more important than his changing attitude at the moment. Knowing they caught the boy's attention on them, the second thief continued.

"I heard Hammet fled to Lunpa after the eruption." He said with a sneering expression.

"D-did you say Lunpa!?" The Vault-native gaped.

"That's right!" Thief #1 replied, smirking. The four friends now had their eyes on the gaping man as his eyes widened at the news.

"Oh no! That's absolutely terrible." He said, voice shaking. "A man with Master Hammet's money shouldn't go anyway NEAR Lunpa! At _all_!"

"What kind of place is Lunpa?" Garet asked.

"The town was named after its founder, Lunpa, the noble thief… That family of thieves remained noble even when his son, Donpa, took over." He explained, having garnered the attention of the Adepts.

_Hm, I remember this. Ivan did tell us this part in his story. Hammet was captured by…What was his name? Dodon—uh._ Matthew thought to himself, careful to not get carried away. For one, Ivan was right there, and could Mind Read at any given time. That wouldn't have boded well. "But Donpa's son, Dodonpa, is an evil thief." Thief #2 added, frowning a little. "The man has no morals. I've heard he's truly vicious." This also wasn't boding well, either.

"So you see, we're not so bad. How about it? Will you let us go?" Thief #3 asked as politely as he could.

Isaac glared dangerously at them again, making them take a step back. "No, we're not going to let you go, despite what you've told us."

"And why ever not?" Thief #1 glared back.

"You still stole things. Stealing's wrong!" Garet shot out.

"What? You mean, even if we return everything we stole and apologize, it's still a crime?"

Ivan nodded. "Of course it is. You committed a crime, now you must do the time."

Huffing, the three thieves laughed, gaining questionable expressions from the five opposing them. "You _must_ be joking! We stole this stuff fair and square!"

"I think we're beyond the giggles of playing around." Matthew said, "Either you turn yourselves in or we'll do it."

"Hmph! Yeah right kid! We'll have to keep you all quiet! And the only way to do that is by knocking you guys out!" Thief #2 bellowed. "Let's get them!" The thieves brandished their knives, now charging for the Adepts. In this cramped up loft room? They must be serious! Isaac, Garet and Matthew drew their swords as Ivan whipped out his wooden staff.

The three sword users clashed with the three thieves; knife against sword, and blocked each other's attacks. Matthew griped internally. He knew he had to hold back or else…wait, why did he need to hold back? Oh wait, to hide his much earned strength he gained over his journey so he wouldn't become suspicious. Besides, Isaac, Garet and Ivan were a bit inexperienced to fighting other people. Just out of the corner of his eye, he could see his young father-dubbed-brother looking conflicted a little as he avoided inflicting serious damage on his opponent. Garet was faring just a bit better than his best friend, but that awareness that these three people were human lives obviously egged on him.

From behind them, Ivan was channeling Psynergy into a spell. Oh good, the sooner he does that the quicker this fight will be over and—

"Augh!"

Where did that voice come from? Matt and Garet spun around, noticing Isaac had tried to dodge a stabbing jab to his shoulder but instead, it cut a little of his throat! "Isaac!" Garet roared as he kicked down his opponent and rushed in to block his best friend's attacker. Matthew cringed as Garet left himself open! Crud. This wasn't good and rushing over to help them would leave _him_ open. _Don't think irrationally, Matt! Come on, think—oh!_ Keeping his attention on his own foe, Matthew quickly pushed him back and called something from within his body to respond. It responded all right—in the form of another Earth Djinni! Wow, his Djinn do work in the past after all.

"Chasm, help them out." Matthew commanded, the wide-mouthed Earth Djinni chirped as it hurried over to protect its Master's friends—or rather, his father and claimed uncle from harm. Just as the two thieves were advancing on Isaac and Garet, Chasm floated around them, stunning the four—even Ivan who noticed its presence—and wrapped them up in a defensive barrier.

"What the!" Thief #2 gaped.

"What was that?!" Thief #3 wondered.

"The hell?" Thief #1, distracted, also clued in.

"Ivan, hurry!" Matthew commanded next, the younger Adept snapping back to focus.

"R-Right!" With the focus of his staff, Ivan raised it as the Jupiter Psynergy seeped out of his mind's control, forming into a visible gale. "Whirlwind!" He chanted, the energy-made tornado capturing the thieves in its wake.

"Keep at it, Ivan." Matthew added as he hurried to his 'brother' and quickly summoned up his own Psynergy. Unlike the yellowish light that most Venus Adepts would have, Matt's Psynergy was bathed in a powerful, golden-white light. "Stay still, Da—Isaac," He caught himself, again. "Potent Cure," The lighted warmth of the energy swept from Matthew's mind, from his fingertips and wrapped around Isaac's injury, healing it completely—not even dried blood caked on his skin. It was good as new. _Huh, I didn't know that would happen. Usually a little scar would be left behind when I healed._ The future Adept wondered to himself, but decided not to care altogether. His dad being alive mattered to him more.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm…fine." Isaac replied slowly, rubbing his neck where he was cut.

"Good." Matthew stood up, watching as Ivan kept the thieves in place with his continued use of Whirlwind. Noticing a few beads of sweat were running down the young mage's face, Matthew put a hand on his shoulder, reminding himself of Ivan's Mind Read as well. "Let them go, Ivan. You've done great work." Allowing a sigh to escape his mouth, the smaller blond released the guilty upon the floor, letting his Psynergy return to normal and to catch his breath.

"Ugh."

"Ummph."

"Grrugh."

The three pilferers landed with loud thuds on the floor, groaning in pain as they were unceremoniously dropped from the strange attack. "…They…They got us…" Thief #1 said, looking worn out.

"We lost? Ugh…" Thief #2 grumbled.

"Wow! We won!" The man said, having watched some of the fight, but mostly stayed out of the way. "I'll go get the mayor!"

"No. We'll personally escort them out." Matthew said. "Tell the Mayor of what happened here and make sure he and the villagers go through here to obtain any other thing that's missing."

"Right…!" The man said with a nod to the order, heading out quickly.

"Finally, this is over. What a mess this was." Garet complained, yet again. "But, now…what if Hammet's really been captured by Lunpa?"

"We don't know for sure, but…" Ivan said as he regained his breath finally. "First, let's get these guys to the appropriate authorities."

"Sure!" The redheaded Adept chirped rather excitedly, producing a rope from who knows where. The other three blonds weren't going to question where Garet obtained that. "Help me tie them up, guys."

-x-x-x-

"Wow, what a day!" Garet said with a long yawn. The group had just gotten back from speaking with the mayor, after turning in those thieves hours earlier. The mayor relayed to them about the news of Hammet's supposed capture, which didn't bode well with Ivan. The poor boy was persistent, of course. Having a glimpse of hope to saving Hammet was enough to keep going. He wouldn't give up there. Once the town's treasures were all returned and a small celebration after, thanking the four boys for their assistance, the village calmed down by nightfall and everyone returned to their homes for the night.

For the four boys, they got another room at the inn as thanks, this time, with four beds and two restrooms in it. What luck! "Thank you for helping me today." Ivan said as he sat on his bed. The sleeping arrangements were easy; Garet at the right most bed, closest to the wall, Ivan on the adjacent bed across from his, which was aligned near the windows, Isaac at the left most bed, closest to the door and Matthew at the bed vertically across from his, closest to the restrooms. In between each bed housed a desk and lamp, conveniently. All four were dressed in their pajamas for the night, their bags put away.

"You're welcome, Ivan. I'm glad you were able to recover the rod." Isaac said, smiling a little.

"But it is unfortunate about your Master Hammet though…" Garet added sadly.

"…Yes… but I know I can still save him. Tomorrow, I'll begin traveling to Lunpa."

"All by yourself?!" Isaac and Garet exclaimed in unison, eyes wide. Matthew, while he didn't voice it, just stared incredulously at Ivan. Karis' father was crazy if he was going to do that alone! If Isaac and Garet weren't going to volunteer, _he_ would. Of course, they couldn't turn a blind eye on someone in need. They never did, and just being in their company for just a day and a half, well, it was obvious. "That's dangerous, Ivan!"

"I know, but I cannot ask you three to come with me. You two," he pointed at the Valeans, "have something important to do, and you," he pointed at Matthew last, "are going with them?" All three nodded to Ivan's response, knowing the reason he knew was because of his Mind Read from earlier. Really, it wasn't that hard. "Yeah…we do. We have to catch up with Felix and the others…" Garet said, frowning. "Or else we'll be in trouble."

_Or you won't, if you just leave those guys alone…_ Matthew added in-thought, though stayed tuned into the conversation silently. Now that he thought about it, he was still peeved that mystery guy from this morning pulled a ninja on him and vanished. Creepy guy, just who was that? It couldn't have been Felix, his uncle…Could it?

"Well, I wish you three the best then. We should get some sleep so that we can rise early tomorrow morning and set off." Ivan suggested.

"Yeah." Isaac agreed, along with Garet. "Well, we wish you good luck too, Ivan. Good night."

"Good night."

"'Night!"

The lights went out afterwards, and three of the four Adepts shuffled under the covers of their appropriate beds, the moon's rays giving some form of light through the windows. Matthew surely took his time to 'get into bed' though. He still had a plan to enact, but he needed to get in at least an hour of sleep before pulling through. He was getting on edge, namely because of the possibility that Ivan knows where he's from. And, if he ever starts asking questions while Isaac and Garet were there—what could he say? Reading something from someone's mind was a hundred percent correct. Matt was sure he couldn't find it in himself to face that truth—not yet. Lying his head on the pillow, Matthew stared up at the ceiling, adjusting to the silence in the room, for now. Garet would surely be snoring soon.

The peace, for what he thought would have been interrupted by the redhead five minutes ago was actually his dubbed brother, Isaac. The other blond had sat up in his bed, now looking at Matt. "Hey, Matt. Are you sleep?" He quietly asked. Aforesaid teen slowly rose from his bed, his similar shaded eyes glancing back. "No…not yet."

"Oh," Isaac rubbed the back of his head, chuckling softly. "That was kind of a stupid question to ask, hm?"

Matt smiled a little. "Yeah, it was."

"…Anyway, I didn't know you had a Djinni for yourself. Is that why you were familiar with Flint last night?"

Ah, that's why he wasn't sleep. More questions. "Yeah. That was Chasm, though. That's the one I used." He knew he had more but just naming off the rest of his Djinn would take too long and waking Garet and Ivan would be rude regardless if they were quiet. "Sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I didn't know you knew about them, too."

"It was quite recent when we met Flint though. It was a few days ago when we left Vale." Isaac provided truthfully. "They appeared around the same time Mt. Aleph erupted. So, who knows how many of these little guys are."

_Probably over one hundred…_ Matthew mused to himself. "Maybe you'll meet more on your—er, _our_ journey." That's right. He still had to make him believe he was going with them. "Well, I'm going to try and get some sleep, D—Isaac." Ugh, almost slipped up again! He really needed to get away from Isaac or else he'd seriously screw up somewhere. Such a troublesome situation he was in. Aforesaid blond nodded approvingly.

"Okay then, Matthew. Good night."

Both Earth Adepts shuffled under their blankets, trying to find that warmth they created with the sheets and bodies, and exhaled a sigh at almost the same time. Matthew hadn't closed his eyes all the way, still having a chilling feeling up his back. _What if Ivan knows though…? Then again, he may've not seen what was truly in my mind. Maybe I blocked him out in time… I just hope that was what really happened. As much as I love Dad and Garet, I don't think I could…do that._ He brushed a few of his bangs away and tucked his hand back under the blanket. _I had a feeling this would become troublesome the moment I saw Dad. I honestly have to get away from him and fast. I'll slip up if I continue being around him._

Yes.

When the time is right. _For now… Goodbye, Dad._

-x-x-x-

"Isaac, his body responded to the Psynergy but it suddenly returned to being unresponsive…" Garet informed his exhausted companion, who had been watching over the still form of his son. Hours earlier they had performed a Restore spell on the boy's body to begin unlocking the Psynergy Seal on him. Unlike the regular sealing spells, this one was encased in Dark Psynergy, an unfortunate courtesy of the Umbra Clan. "It had to be the Tuaparang that put this seal on him."

"…" Isaac dotted as he tried recovering his breath. "I…don't understand why they would…"

"We all absorbed some light from the Apollo Lens…" A girl with light green hair, purple eyes, dressed in a white tunic with gold lining the hems, Karis, replied, sitting beside her unconscious best friend. "But, Sveta and Matt had more in them as they climbed to activate the Lens itself." She held a cup of hot chocolate to her lips and sipped, having used almost all her energy to undoing the seal. It wasn't even all the way done; if she had to compare it to a combination lock she would have found the first number to the lock. She was tired, if not more exhausted than Isaac.

"Yeah… What if they thought he was a threat?" A boy with bright, beaming red hair, blue eyes, and wore a mustard yellow shirt and dark brown pants, Tyrell, wondered. He, too, sat beside the girl and his childhood friend.

Garet shook his head. "Who knows why they did, but we can't let them win."

Isaac sipped a cup of his tea before narrowing his pale-blue eyes upon the still form of his son. Thinking over the entire year that passed, he was beginning to feel regret, guilt even. If he hadn't sent them on their journey, this would have never happened. The Grave Eclipse would have been prevented, lives would have been saved, and maybe they would have been Soarwing-less, but it would have been ten times better than having his only son conflicted with this…this affliction. This _seal_ could have been prevented! He didn't see his son off that day because he was afraid. Afraid if he looked back, he would have regretted it even more, in fear of never seeing him again…

But Matthew did come back, contrary to his subconscious belief. The boy had grown into a warrior, a young man that betrayed his true age.

Noticing the expression drawing on his friend's face, Garet placed a hand on the bearded man's left shoulder. "Isaac… It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself."

"…It's hard not to, Garet…"

"He'll make it through this, Isaac. We have to keep trying." The older redhead glanced over to Karis, who caught his gaze. "Karis, whenever you're ready again, begin."

"In a few minutes, I can begin." The Wind Adept said softly, taking another few sips of her hot chocolate. _Please Matthew, stay with us… I don't know what I'd do without you…_

-x-x-x-

Crickets were chirping loudly while they sat upon the grass nearby, owls hooting while the moon's light brilliantly shone overhead, and the night's clouds hovering translucently in the sky above, just over the moon's vision. A lone teenager with spiky blond hair was slowly heading out of the village of Vault, but stopped quite suddenly when he felt someone approach him from the left. His pale-blue eyes found the person to be the masked man from this morning, strangely enough.

"Be at ease, I'm not here to harm you…"

"Then, what do you want?"

The man paused for a moment before speaking again. "Allow me to accompany you."

"…What, why? Why are you so interested in…?"

Just before the response, the man chuckled slightly. "You…both are a little gullible it's almost funny."

Now that didn't make any lick of sense. What was this guy talking about? He wasn't gullible! Adding to this, he had the nerve to be chuckling. Seriously, what was this guy's issue? "You're not making any sense to me."

"Of course not, Matthew. That's just how I am; you should know that by now." The man was now slowly lifting the mask off his face, to which Matthew was gaping at. Those soft, brown eyes were staring down at him, and a comfortable smile upon his face.

"… …Y-you…But…"

"We can't waste time if we want to keep Isaac and Garet behind us, to never find out who were really are." The brunet said again as he glanced over to the still gaping blond. "We must make our way to Tolbi and cross the ocean…To find your solution to this "time-travel" you wish to seek."

* * *

Ending it there.

Pretty sure you guys know who mystery man is. And, I just NOW realized that my summary title said with TLA on there. Haha—no. Maybe in a sequel-ish, maybe. My paper says only GS though. Anyway, leave a review if you like. Thanks!


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